Climate Resilience in Indian Jujube (Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.) and Other Jujube Species

Indian Jujube has attained substantial importance as super fruit owing to its remarkable nutraceutical properties, germplasm diversity, fitness for cultivation under abiotic stress, greater climate resilience, Ozone resistance, tolerance to air pollutants, ability to reduce heavy metals, suitability for reforestation and food security. Ascorbic acid and total sugars in Jujube are greater than Citrus and sugar beet, respectively. Jujube species have been cultivated in Pakistan and India since ancient times and are well adapted to the native agro-environmental conditions. Jujube trees survive well at higher pH up to 8.5, hot summer temperatures up to 50°C, with 200 mm annual rainfall and require relatively little nutrition and crop management. Despite, jujube stands amongst the most primitive grown fruit trees it has attained little attention towards crop improvement. The chapter describes important aspects including its domestication, germplasm resources, climatic requirements for optimal growth, impact of climatic change on crop productivity, breeding and climatic resilience, crop management under stress conditions, tolerance to abiotic stresses, sensitivity to air pollutants and nutritional contaminants, mitigation and crop improvement approaches and remote sensing for environmental certification. Utilization of modern biotechnology tools could help to underpin the candidate genes regulating abiotic stress tolerance and enhancing climate resilience.