Past, Present and Future of Fruit Industry in Iran; Plant Genetic Resources potentials and Lack of Comprehensive Breeding Programs

Vast land area and variations in climatic conditions made Iran as a unique country capable of producing almost all types of fruits crops. However, fruit culture is an integral part of Iranian’s rich and ancient culture, but commercial fruit production has been developed extensively in 20th century and currently Iran is among the main producers of many fruits such as pistachio, date, pomegranate, apricot, cherries, walnut, almond, fig, apple and citrus in the world. Unbalanced development of Iran’s fruit industry in last century (especially in last few decades), leads to fast extension of area under cultivation of some fruit crops such as apple, citrus, olive, peach, plum and kiwifruit, while other historically adapted fruit crops such as pistachio, almond, date palm, fig, pomegranate, pear and barberry, with potential comparative advantages had not considered properly. Climate changes and water shortage as one of its main consequence, will affect fruit industry severely in countries like Iran as arid and semi-arid climates cover about 70% of the country’s surface area. These will undoubtedly lead to an increased demand for the development of new rootstocks and cultivars adapted to these changing conditions such as raised temperature and lower rainfall levels. In the other hand fortunately Iran enjoys a huge diversity of genetic resources of fruit crops including wild species, landraces and commercial cultivars. Due to minimal selection pressure, these genetic resources are diverse in a wide range of morphological and pomological characteristics as well as resistance/tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Because of the high value of these genetic resources, it is important to comprehensively evaluate, utilize and ensure the conservation of these unique and valuable resources. Therefore, these precious genetic resources could be used in comprehensive fruit breeding programs to generate new cultivars and rootstocks that are more adapted to climate change. Failure to take proper action now could have disastrous consequences for the future of fruit industry.