Raj Narayan

Performance of some new apple cultivars for yield and physico-chemical characters under mid-hill conditions of Uttarakhand

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the yield and physico-chemical performance of 18 apple cultivars. The highest fruit yield (46.11 kg/tree), fruit weight (217.33 g), fruit volume (231.67 cc), fruit length (6.98 cm) andfruit diameter (8.22 cm) was recorded in ‘Spur Type Red Delicious’. The lowest fruit yield (19.12 kg/tree) and fruitlength (4.33 cm) was recorded in ‘Chaubattia Anupam’; while, lowest average fruit weight (64.67 g), fruit volume (63.33 cc) and fruit diameter (5.32 cm) was observed in ‘Gloster’. The maximum TSS was recorded in ‘Skyline Supreme’ (14.73°B) and minimum was in ‘Chaubattia Princess’ (11.26°B). However, the highest titratable acidity was recorded in ‘Golden Delicious’ (0.66%) and lowest in ‘Chaubattia Princess’ (0.14%). The cultivar ‘Skyline Supreme’ possessing highest values for ascorbic acid (8.25 mg/100 g), reducing sugars (9.62%), total sugars(12.42%), total carotenoids (235.73 μg/100 g) and total anti-oxidant activity (41.95 mMTE/L) while ‘Prima’ exhibitedlowest values of ascorbic acid (3.92 mg/100 g) and total sugar contents (6.15%). The lowest values for reducingsugars (5.13%), total carotenoids (79.45 μg/100 g) and total anti-oxidant activity (30.66 mM TE/L) were recordedin ‘Gloster’, ‘Vermont Spur’ and ‘Stark Spur’, respectively. The cultivar ‘Golden Delicious’ is the most luminous(L*=84.86) and having the highest yellow colour (b*= 67.10) and hue angle (h° = 87.41), whereas ‘Chaubattia Anupam’ showed the highest red colour (a*= 54.15) and Chroma (C*= 67.53). From this investigation it can beinferred that the cultivar ‘Spur Type Red Delicious’ and ‘Skyline Supreme’ performed better in the region under prevailing climatic conditions.

Storage behaviour of apple cultivars under ambient conditions

An experiment was conducted at ICAR-CITH, Regional Station, Mukteshwar, Nainital, Uttarakhand in ten apple cultivars to assess the physico-chemical changes and shelf-life at ambient storage conditions for 49 days. The physiological loss in weight, TSS, reducing sugars, total sugars, non-reducing sugars and fruit decay percentage increased, while fruit firmness, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid content and organoleptic score decreased during storage in all cultivars. Cultivar Skyline Supreme exhibited lowest physiological loss in weight (7.77%), highest TSS (14.93°B) and organoleptic score (7.19) than other apple cultivars. However, the cv. Red Chief exhibited highest ascorbic acid (12.32 mg/100 g), reducing sugars (8.89%) and total sugars (10.59%) and the cv. Bright-N-Early exhibited highest fruit firmness (8.18 lb/in2) and lowest fruit decay (5.05%) than other apple cultivars. Conclusively, Skyline Supreme, Red Chief and Bright-N-Early have better shelf-life than other apple cultivars under ambient storage conditions.

Genetic Variability And Correlation Studies of Gerbera Jamesonii Bolus) Under Protected Condition

Sixty three lines of gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii) were evaluated to determine the genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance, genetic gain and correlation coefficients for seven flower contributing characters. Significant variations were recorded for the various characters studied. The flower stalk length was maximum (54.67 cm) in GA-34 followed by (53.50 cm) in GA-27, flower stalk thickness (10.23 mm) in GA-62 followed by (9.98 mm) in GA-34, the flower diameter (12.96 mm) in GA-14 followed by (12.66 mm) in GA32, the number of leaves were maximum (65.66) in GA01 followed by (64.33) in GA-35, the flower disc diameter (36.29 mm) in GA-02 followed by (34.47 mm) in GA-44, Ray floret breadth (53.24 mm) in GA-26 followed by (51.05 mm) in GA-30. Highest number of total flower/plant/year (45.13) in GA-35 followed by (41.17) in GA-29. Phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation were highest for the total flower yields per year (66.72% and 66.00%), indicating presence of sufficient genetic variability for selection in these traits. Highest heritability recorded for total number of flower, number of leaves/plant (each 99.00%), flower disc diameter and flower stalk length (98.00%), respectively. The high genetic advance percentage of mean for ray floret breadth, total flower yields and flower disc diameter recorded as 99.50%, 81.32% and 52.56%, respectively. The coefficients values of simple correlation exhibited strong and positive association between all the traits, indicative of involvement of linked genes inheritance pattern in the traits of study. Further, presence of high genetic gain as well as strong positive association between the traits open the ways for the improvement of the traits in the present material through selection procedure. From the present study, it could be inferred that there is vide scope of gerbera for their good quality flower production for longer durations under poly house in agro-climatic conditions of Kumaun hills of Uttarakhand, which could fetch higher prices to the growers of the region. Further, all the sixty three lines assessed have shown their potential in one or more characteristics under poly house and there is need to study their performance in different growing medium and conditions for the development of production technology for better yield and quality of the produce round the year.

Phyto-Chemical Characters of Kiwi Fruit (Actinidia Chinensis) Var. Allison Affected by Different Stages Of growth

Kiwi fruit is gaining popularity in the Himalayan states including Uttarakhand. A few varieties of this fruit are performing well in mid hills of Kumaon region. The effect of different stages of harvest on various phyto-chemical characters including ascorbic acid, total carotenoid, antioxidants and sugar content was studied in Kiwi fruit var. Allison. The investigation was carried out at different harvest dates after two months of fruit set. The anthesis of female flowers started from 14 May 2014 and 100% flowering was recorded on 23 May 2014. The number of female flowers/tree was recorded in a range of 346–2952. In the male plants (Tomuri) of Kiwi, 90–1176 flowers/tree were recorded which increased the fruit set of Kiwi fruit. The fruits took 150 days to mature on the basis of flower anthesis to harvesting. The physical parameters viz., fruit length (46.30 mm to 61.06 mm), fruit breadth (31.26 mm to 64.70 mm) and fruit weight (29.56 g to 153.08 g) gradually increased with the fruit development. The bio-constituents like reducing sugars (0.7%-1.76%), non-reducing sugars (1.38%-5.15%) and total sugars (2.09%-6.91%) were found to increase substantially but the acidity decreased from 2.53% to 1.43% with the development of fruit. Ascorbic acid contents were recorded the highest (912.5 mg/100g) in the initial stage of fruit growth which reduced significantly to 261.87mg/100g at fruit maturity. The caraotenoid content and total antioxidants in the fruits increased significantly from 11.57 to 55.54μg/100g and 0.54 to 5.48 mMTE/L respectively during the period under study. From the study it was inferred that the Kiwi fruits attain full maturity in 7 months with good phyto-chemical constituents.

Varietal performance in physico-chemical properties of peach(Prunus persica) grown in Uttarakhand, India

In this study, the varietal performance in respect of the quality and good yield in Kumaun region at the time of growing areas were evaluated. The varieties are F-16-23, Florda king, Nectarine, Red June. The results were pertaining to their highest fruit length (68.50 mm), fruit breadth (71.38 mm), fruit weight (186.11 g) found in T4 Red June and fruit firmness (8.74 lb/in2) found in T3-Nectarine. The acidity (1.66 %), ascorbic acid (440 mg/100 g), reducing sugar (19.77 %) and total sugar (51.73 %) found in T4- Red June, T-2 Florda King, T-3 Nectarine. The study revealed that the size and yield good in Red June and the nutritional value was higher in Florda King and Nectarine peach.