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BILIMBI (Averrhoa bilimbi L.)

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Heiplanmi Rymbai Nishant Deshmukh

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 2
BILIMBI
( Averrhoa bilimbi L.)
H. Rymbai, N.A. Deshkmukh, A.K. Jha, R.S. Patel, D. Paul, Vandana V. Patel,

1. INTRODUCTION
CONTENTS
Averrhoa bilimbi L., commonly known
as bilimbi, belongs to the family of the 1. Introduction ................................................ 13
Oxalidaceae. Bilimbi fruit tree are widely 2. Domestication ............................................. 14
cultivated throughout tropical countries 3. Taxonomy .................................................... 14
(Hayes, 1960) and is easily found as 4. Centers of Origin/Centers of Diversity ....... 15
backyard plant. It is considered as 5. Objectives of Improvement ........................ 15
neglected fruit crop, though it is 6. Cytogenetic ................................................. 15
nutritionally rich. Fruits are eaten raw, 7. Inheritance Pattern ..................................... 15
as well used for preparation of pickle, 8. Problem in Breeding ................................... 16
vinegar, wine and as a substitute for 9. Floral Biology .............................................. 16
tamarind in dishes and flavor agent. 10. Different Species ........................................ 17
Mature and ripened fruits are commonly 11. Crop Improvement Methods ....................... 17
used for preservation in sugar or are 12. Future Prospects ......................................... 18
cut, sun dried and preserved for future
use. Fruit juice is very sour and is utilized
in beverages preparation. Bilimbi fruit possesses several health beneficial compounds
such as high vitamin C, low calorie and high antioxidants (Bhasker and Shantaram,
2013). In addition, fruits are widely used as stains removal on clothes and metal blades
or utensils cleaning or hand wash and impart shining on brass due to its high oxalic acid
content (Corrêa, 1926; Joseph and Mendonca, 1989; Lennox and Ragoonath, 1990;
Wong and Wong, 1995; Pushpakumara 2007; Morton 1987; Coronel 1986). Fruits of
bilimbi are believed to be a possible source of bioethylene as they were softened
quicker especially when injured, which could indicating a high production level of ethylene
(Masilungan and Absulio, 2012).
 14 Breeding of Underutilized Fruit Crops

2. DOMESTICATION
The generic name is derived after Averrhoes (1126­98), the widely known Moslem doctor
and Arab philosopher, Abu’l­Walid Ibn Rushd, better known as Averroes (1126­1198)
(Manda et al., 2012). Bilimbi is grown throughout Malaysia and Indonesia, where it is
likely to be the first domesticated of this crop (Staples and Herbst, 2005). It is also a
domesticated fruit tree in home garden or backyard of the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka
and many other south or southeast Asian countries (Karon et al., 2011; UWCSEA, 2014).
Outside of Asia, bilimbi seedlings were transported from Timor Leste to Jamaica in
1793, later eventually spread to many parts of the Caribbean and central/southern America,
where it is known as “mimbro”. It is also grown commercially in Queensland, Australia.
Near the end of the 19th century, it was brought to Queensland where it is growing
commercially. In addition, bilimbi is also cultivated in Zanzibar (Anonymous, 2014). Today,
it is cultivated throughout the world (Staples and Herbst, 2005).

3. TAXONOMY
Bilimbi belongs to the Oxalidaceae family which consists of 7 – 8 classes and up to 900
species, distributed throughout tropics and subtropics. Some of these species occurs
occasionally at high altitude, but relatively few representatives in the temperate zones
(Sauco and Menini, 1993). The family is predominantly consists of herbaceous plants,
tubers or bulbs, shrubs, however with only two woody genera, viz., Averrhoa and
Sarcotheca. Out of which, the genus Oxalis is the most genus in the wood­sorrel family
Oxalidaceae consisting up to 800 species. Many of which are existing as garden weeds
in some temperate zones of the northern hemisphere, while some species as ornamental
plants in garden and houses (Cronquist, 1981). However, the oca (Oxalis tuberose Mel.)
is the most important species of the family, which is cultivated at higher altitude in the
Andes, from Columbia to Bolivia, where its importance as a tuber second only to potato
(Chandler, 1958). Among woody plants of the family, besides carambola (Averrhoa
carambola), Averrhoa bilimbi L. is only fruit plants having value for edible fruit. However,
fruits are very acidic and are therefore unsuitable for fresh consumption, although it is
often used in the tropics for preparing curries, chutneys, pickles and candied fruits. The
botanical classification of bilimbi is given as.
Classification of bilimbi (Staples et al., 2005)
Kingdom : Plantae­Plants
Subkingdom : Tracheobionta­Vascular plants
Superdivision : Spermatophyta­Seed plants
Division : Magnoliophyta­Flowering plants
Class : Dicotyledonae
Subclass : Rosidae
 Bilimbi (Averrhoa bilimbi L.) 15

Order : Oxalidales
Family : Oxalidaceae
Genus : Averrhoa
Species : blimbi L.

4. CENTERS OF ORIGIN/CENTERS OF DIVERSITY

The origin of this crop is not yet clear. However, it was considered that India might have
been the original home of the genus, from where it was introduced to Brazil centuries ago
(Corrêa, 1926; Chandler, 1958). Similarly, Contradictory, some authors reported that as
native to the Malaysia and the Indonesian Moluccas (Love and Paull, 2011; Ghosh, 2013).
Bilimbi is a tropical tree, comparatively more sensitive to cold than A. carambola,
especially at young stage. The tree grows faster and vigorously in full sun. In India, it is
usually found in gardens or backyard and growing wild in the warmest parts of the
country. It is also found in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and throughout south­east Asia on a small
scale or as backyard tree (Karon et al., 2011). Outside of Asia, it was found in Jamaica
through introduction, which later spread throughout the Central and South America,
Queensland and Zanzibar where it is cultivated (Anonymous, 2014).

5. OBJECTIVES OF IMPROVEMENT
i. To develop cultivars having early bearing habit, high yielding capacity with acceptable
fruit weight, attractive shape and colour
ii. To develop cultivars having fruits with good shelf­life, seedlessness, good acid:sugar
ratio with acceptable flavour and crispy texture
iii. To develop cultivars having resistance to major pests, diseases and physiological
disorders,
iv. To develop cultivars having tolerance to cold and high wind, and adaptability to
different training and pruning practices.

6. CYTOGENETIC
The basic chromosome number is (n = 11) as revealed by the number of bivalents
counted from pollen mother cells at metaphase I (Mathew, 1958). He furthermore observed
that meiosis was normal with regular anaphase separation.

7. INHERITANCE PATTERN
In bilimbi, there is no report available on inheritance pattern.
 16 Breeding of Underutilized Fruit Crops

8. PROBLEM IN BREEDING
The non–availability of information on breeding of bilimbi is the major problems in planning
for breeding programme. A system “heterostyly” encourages cross­polination, which prevent
inbreeding in bilimbi.

9. FLORAL BIOLOGY
9.1. Flowering
In bilimbi, the existing of phenomenon “heterostyly” system ensures that trees are not
inbred. Heterostyly means with individuals carrying only flowers with short style and long
stamina, usually self incompatible and which, therefore, need the crossed pollination, and
others only flowers with style longer than the stamina, which are self­fertile (Beltramini,
2014; Staples et al., 2005). The plant initiates flowering during February, blooming and
fruiting more or less continuously until December in India as well in Florida (Anonymous,
2013a). However, with marked peaks flowering following drought is observed (Paull and
Duarte, 2012).

9.2. Flowers
Flowers are borne on auxiliary or cauliflorous nature in small, hairy panicles emerging
directly from the trunk and oldest, thickest branches and some twigs. Flowers are fragrant,
5­petalled. Yellowish green or purplish marked with dark­purple in colour (Orwa et al.,
2009).

9.3. Anthesis and Pollination

It takes about one week from bud burst to opening of flower, and flower opening occur
in the morning. Panicles take 15 days for the whole panicle to flower. Fruit set take place
15 – 20 days after inflorescence emergence and is indicated by petal fall with the stigma
persisting on the end of the fruit. Flowers are self­fertile.

9.4. Fruit
Fruits are borne in clusters (Photo 1). Fruits are ellipsoid, obovoid or nearly cylindrical.
It consists of five broad rounded longitudinal lobes, 4 – 10 cm long fruit, capped by a thin,
star­shaped calyx at the stem­end and tipped with 5 hair like and floral remnants at the
apex (Orwa et al., 2009). Unripe fruits are crispy, green in color and become yellowish
on ripened (Mathew et al., 1993). Bilimbi fruits are climacteric and extremely sour. It
matures 50–60 days after flowering. Seeds are 3 – 6 per fruit, are almost circular, about
0,6 cm of diameter and flat, brown (Beltramini, 2014). Viability can be extended up to six
 Bilimbi (Averrhoa bilimbi L.) 17

months with partially dried (70% of harvest weight) seeds at 5ºC. Seed dormancy can be
broken by soaked for 24 hours before planting. Seed germination takes 14­21 days (Orwa
et al., 2009). The direct sowing seeds germinate within 4 – 6 weeks which varies with
genotypes (Anonymous. 2013b).

10. DIFFERENT SPECIES

Averrhoa bilimbi, L. (bimbuli) and Averrhoa carambola (star fruit) are the only two
species belonging to the genus Averrhoa, family oxalidaceae (Bhasker and Shantaram,
2013). It is a closely resemble to carambola with marked differences in fruit appearance,
fruiting and flavor (Paull and Duarte, 2012).

11. CROP IMPROVEMENT METHODS

No breeding work has been reported in bilimbi, except evaluation on physical, chemical,
mineral and proximate composition of mature fruits (Love and paull, 2011; Bhasker and
Shantaram, 2013) (Table 1 – 3).
Bilimbi does not have any named varieties. However it has been reported to have
sweet and sour types in the Philippines. The sweet forms are too acid for the fresh
market. Variable progeny is derived from seeds due to out­crossing (Paull and Duarte,
2012).

Table 1. Physical features of mature fruits of Averrhoa species (n=20) (mean ± SD)

Sl. No. Characters Content

1 Colour Greenish yellow
2 Texture Firm
3 Fresh weight (g/fruit) 10.41 ± 0.87
4 Dry weight (g/fruit) 0.55 ± 0.17
5 Dry weight (g/fruit) 94.81±0.43
6 Length (cm) 4.95 ± 0.54
7 Width (cm) 1.94 ± 0.18
8 Thickness (cm) 2.04 ± 0.17
9 Volume (ml) 9.54 ± 0.48
10 No. of seeds per fruit 6.7 ± 0.88
11 No. of ridges per fruit 5.45 ± 0.76
12 Mean thickness of ridge per fruit 1.03 ± 0.12

Figures across the column with different letters are significant (p<0.03, paired t­test), Source;
Bhasker and Shantaram (2013).
 18 Breeding of Underutilized Fruit Crops

Table 2. Chemical characteristics in bilimbi ripened fruits on dry and rainy season.

Sl. No. Characters Content

1 Oxalic acid (mg/100 g) 10.5 – 14.7 (green fruit) &
8.45 – 10.8 (ripe fruit)
2 Vitamin C (mg/100 g) 36.68 – 60.95
3 Thiamine (mg/100 g pulp) 0.01 – 0.02
4 Riboflavin (mg/100 g pulp) 0.03 – 0.04
5 Niacin (mg/100 g pulp) 0.02 – 0.302
6 Vitamin A (UI) 105
7 TSS (°B) 4.64 – 5.06

The averages on the same line followed by similar letters do not statistically differ from
probability level of 5% (Tukey test), Sources; Paull and Duarte (2012); Bhasker and Shantaram
(2013); Love and paull (2011).

Table 3. Mineral composition of mature fruits of Averrhoa species on dry weight basis
(mg 100 g­1) (n=5; mean ± SD).

Sl. No. Characters Content Sl. No. Characters Content

1 Na 2.1 ± 0.02 11 Crude Protein (g/100 g) 0.9 ± 0.14
2 K 103.03 ± 0.04 12 Crude lipid (g/100 g) 0.27 ± 0.06
3 Ca 2.03 ± 0.09 13 Crude fiber (g/100 g) 0.96 ± 0.02
4 P 15.4 ± 0.04 14 Ash (g/100 g) 0.33 ± 0.02
5 Mg 3.45 ± 0.12 15 Total carbohydrates 9.75 ± 0.12
(g/100 g)
6 Fe 0.74 ± 0.23 16 Energy value 135.02 ± 0.56
(kJ 100 g­1)
7 Cu 0.79 ± 0.16 17 pH 2.16 ± 0.11
8 Zn 0.22 ± 0.08
9 Mn 0.02 ± 0.11
10 Se ND

ND–Not detectable, figures across the column with different letters are significant (p<0.03,
paired t­test), Source; Bhasker and Shantaram (2013).

12. FUTURE PROSPECTS

Bilimbi is considered as neglected crops. However, it easy availability as backyard plant
besides it nutritionally rich is one the great asset for breeding programme. Considering
bilimbi is native to India, there is chance of existence of wide variability among different
genotype of this crop. Proper strategies for survey, collection, evaluation and improvement
must be initiated. There is scope for increasing fruit shelf­life through physiological and
biotechnological intervention to inhibit ethylene production in the fruit. Further, breeding for
varieties with good blend of sugar:acid and tolerant to cold and wind is another areas of
crop improvement in bilimbi.
 Bilimbi (Averrhoa bilimbi L.) 19

REFERENCES
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Anonymous.,2014. Bilimbi, Averrhoa bilimbi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Averrhoa_bilimbi.
Retrieved 10/02/2014.
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 20 Breeding of Underutilized Fruit Crops

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Photo 1. Fruits of bilimbi.

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