The Fifth Group Discussion of the ICAR-All India Coordinated Research Project on Fruits was organized at the ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirappalli, from 15 to 18th February, 2018. Delegates for 37 SAUs and 17 ICAR institutes participated in the programme. Altogether more than 180 scientists participated and discussed the way forward for the AICRP Fruits. Directors of various institutes namely, Dr. M.R. Dinesh, IIHR; Dr. S. Rajan, CISH; Dr. M.S. Ladaniya, CCRI; Dr. S.D. Sawant, NRCG and Dr. Vishal Nath, NRCL participated in the function. Besides, Dr. H.P. Maheswarappa, PC, Palms, Dr. Manish Das, ICAR-HQ and Dr. S.K. Malik, DG representative also participated in the workshop.

The first two days of the meet was dedicated to technical review and planning of research programmes for the forthcoming years. The programme was organized with four concurrent sessions for crop improvement, production, insect pest management and disease management. Experts of respective fields headed the deliberation and the lead presenters of various research programme presented the achievements during 2016 to 2017 of various centres and the programme for the year 2018 to 19 was finalized in addition to the identification of the technologies.

During the Inaugural session on 17th February, 2018, Dr. Anand Kumar Singh, Deputy Director General (Hort. Sci. & Crop Sci.) ICAR chaired the function. He highlighted the increase in the production of horticulture crops in recent years and need to improve it further with quality production. He urged the delegates to work in collaboration, connecting all the stakeholders along with the supply chain.

Dr. Prakash Patil, Project Coordinator, ICAR-AICRP on Fruits, presented the progress of work done at the participating centres across the country on nine fruit crops (mango, Citrus, banana, guava, litchi, grapes, papaya, sapota and jackfruit). During the inaugural function, a compact disc of monograph, Insect and Mite Pests of Sapota in India was released.

The plenary session was convened with Dr. B.M.C. Reddy as a chairperson. Dr. M.R. Dinesh, Director IIHR and Dr. S. Uma, Director, NRCB acted as a co-chairperson. The proceedings of the each session were presented by the convenor and detailed discussion was done before recommending the technologies to various regions. During this period, a total of 8 region-specific technologies were recommended, which include recommendations of superior Nendran clone in banana: Manjeri Nendran-II, HDP technique for banana in Odisha to enhance productivity, organic source of nutrients (with reduced load on chemical fertilizers) for improved production in guava, organic nutrient schedule for banana, ways to economise the water in grape cv. Thompson Seedless on Dogridge and also in sweet orange, biological control of banana stem weevil (Odoiporus longicollis) and integrated management schedule for PRSV in papaya. Status of post-harvest loss in mango, banana and grapes in hotspots were also estimated.

The meeting ended with vote of thanks from Dr. Dr. Prakash Patil, PC, Fruits.