The origin of the Department of Fruit Crops dates back to 1935, with the establishment of a “Fruit Research Station” at Kodur (now in Andhra Pradesh) by the then Imperial Council of Agricultural Research.
Research on fruit crops gained further emphasis with the commencement of a Fruit Section at Coimbatore in 1950.
The Department of Fruit Crops was separately established at the time of formation of University during 1972 and since then, intensive research, education and extension activities are pursued to promote fruit crops cultivation.
Courses related to general horticulture, fruit breeding and applied fruit cultivation are being offered to students of UG, PG and Ph.D degree programmes of this University.
The Department has well equipped tissue culture laboratory, analytical laboratory, UG and PG laboratories with computer facilities.
Breeding, crop management, plant protection and post harvest technology of fruit crops are the mandatory areas of research. The faculties of this Department are well trained at international institutes and laboratories.
The Department has a well established orchard with field gene bank for banana and papaya, sapota and guava varietal museums, crop cafeteria and experimental plots.
The Department has an extensive collection of banana inclusive of diploids (AA and AB), triploids (AAA, AAB and ABB) and tetraploids, providing strong base for banana improvement.
The Department focuses on research in ‘resistance breeding in banana and papaya’ at national and international level.
Systematic breeding programme have led to the development and release of a ‘synthetic banana hybrid CO 1’ and eight improved papaya varieties namely, CO 1 to CO 8.
Active research programmes has resulted in improved water / nutrient management techniques, crop growth regulation and plant protection in different fruit crops viz., banana, papaya, mango, sapota and grapes.
