Mango (Mangifera indica) fruits are consumed, among other reasons, for their pleasant flavour. They are rich sources of vitamins A, B 6 and C. Mango fruits are being increasingly processed into products such as dried mango slices (chips). These products have longer shelflife and, therefore, assure all year round availability of mango in different forms. The stage of ripening of mango fruits influences consumer acceptability. This is because it affects the physico-chemical characteristics of the mango fruit. In order to produce mango chips of acceptable quality, determination of the most appropriate stage of ripening of fruits for chip production should be known. This study was, therefore, carried out to determine the effect of stage of ripening of Keitt mango fruits on eating quality of its derivative chips. Some physicochemical changes occurring in fruits were monitored during ripening. The results showed that there were significant increases (P<0.05) in total soluble solids and pH while titratable acidity and vitamin C content declined with ripening. No significant differences were observed between the different stages of ripening in any of the proximate parameters with the exception of the ash content. Chips showed increased levels of ash with ripening. Magnesium levels in chips increased with ripening whereas the levels of phosphorus, potassium, calcium and sodium declined. Sensory evaluation of the chips revealed that chips produced from fully ripe Keitt mango fruits were more acceptable than half ripe and unripe mango fruits. The chips from the fully ripened had the best scores for appearance (1.37), taste (1.27), flavour (1.38) as well as mouthfeel (1.45). The texture of chips produced using the fully ripened Keittt mango fruits were adjudged to be satisfactory (2.64). The study showed that fully ripened mango fruits were better in producing chips of acceptable sensory quality than both unripe and fullripe mango fruits. The taste which was mainly due to the sugar content of the mango chips contributed significantly to overall acceptability and therefore could be used as a quality indicator of Keitt mango chips.

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Aims: Studies were carried out to ascertain a suitable soilless medium which would enhance root development in Thuja occidentalis using stem cuttings and air-layered propagules. Economically, the demand for these ornamentals necessitates that the difficult-to-root phenomenon should be solved. Study Design: A 2 x 6 factorial in a randomised complete block design replicated three times was the experimental design used for the stem cutting experiment. While a complete randomised design with 6 treatments which were replicated three times used for the air-layering experiment.

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Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) is an important crop grown in tropical and subtropical climates with huge nutritional, economic and industrial benefits. The plant undergoes explosive shattering to disperse seeds after physiological maturity leading to high loss of seeds at the time of harvesting. A field experiment was carried out to determine the effect of different harvesting stages on the growth, yield and shattering dynamics of seeds of twelve Roselle accessions in the Department of Horticulture, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi from March to November, 2019. A 3x12 factorial design in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) was used for the study, where factor one was harvesting stages at three levels (physiological maturity, one week after physiological maturity and two weeks after physiological maturity) and factor two was accessions at twelve levels. The study revealed that accession HS08 performed best in terms of growth (plant height, the number of leaves, number of branches and stem girth) and reproductive parameters (number of days to flowering) and accessions HS27 and HS08 produced the highest yield (number of pods, number of seeds per pod, and total seed yield). Harvesting of seeds at the physiological maturity stage happened to be the ideal time because seeds were harvested safely without any losses (0%) due to shattering as compared to the other harvesting stages. The study also established a very strong, positive and significant relationship between seed yield and number of leaves (r=0.7093) and the number of branches (r=0.9241). However, there was a strong but negative and significant relationship between seed yield and percentage seed shattering loss (r=-0.9633). There was a very strong, positive and significant relationship between number of leaves and stem girth (r=0.7769). The number of seeds per plant correlated positively with the number of pods (r=0.7358). A regression model which was given by the equation; Y (Seed yield)=670.96-0.3152 (Shattering loss), R2=0.9279, p<0.0000, indicated that shattering loss significantly affected seed yield to an extent that it contributed 93% of the variation in the seed yield.