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The Annonaceae family comprises about 120 genera and more than 2000 species. The genus Annona is the most economically important one, containing 120 species. The opportunity for breeding improvement in the annona is significant and challenging. There is a lot more species are available but certain inherent constraints are involved like: long juvenility, higher levels of heterozygosity and large area requirement for assessment of hybrids. On the other hand, wide range of diversity and ease of vegetative hybrid propagation are the advantages for the breeders. There are very few man made commercially important hybrids. Its development is mostly based on the selection of clones were made for fruit quality only. Requirements of a good cultivar involve: dwarfness, precocity and profuse bearing, attractive, good sized and quality fruit, absence of physiological disorders, disease and pest resistance and improved shelf life etc. Comprehensive knowledge about the phenology and advanced techniques for hybridization have been quite helpful to overcome the problems like poor eating and keeping quality. The development of the genetic markers has further reduced the uncertainty in breeding of annona and maintaining the hybrid populations in a better way.
Keywords: Annona, Heterozygosity, Breeding, Juvenility.