High density management and crop regulation are two important aspects in guava (Psidium guajava L.) production. Therefore, to find out the economic way of managing high density planting and crop regulation, the present work was carried out on 6-year-old guava trees of cv. Pant Prabhat under double-hedge row system of planting during 2009-10 and 2010-11. Seven different forms of pruning [FBT: flower bud thinning by hand, FBTT: flower bud thinning by hand followed by removal of terminal one leaf pair, RLFO: removal of leaves and flower buds by hand, retaining one leaf pair at the top, RLF: removal of all leaves and flowers by hand, OLPS: one leaf pair shoot pruning, FSP: full shoot pruning, OLPF: one leaf pair pruning of fruited shoots only] were studied along with control (C).Minimum annual increase in tree volume (6.764 m3) was recorded with the treatment OLPF, which was 2.31 times less than the control (15.682 m3). Highest yield during winter season (55.30 kg/tree) and total yield (59.87 kg/tree) was obtained from treatment OLPF. One leaf pair pruning of fruited shoots only (OLPF) was also found profitable among other treatments by recording cost:benefit ratio of 1:2.96. This treatment also recorded the highest return distributed in rainy as well as in winter season. On the basis of findings it can be concluded that one leaf pair pruning of fruited shoots only is suitable for profitable high density management as well as crop regulation of guava in farmer friendly manner.

No abstract

Amid environmental crises, a galloping population, and changing food habits, increasing fruit production with nutritional quality is a global challenge. To address this, there is a necessity to exploit the germplasm accessions in order to develop high-yielding varieties/hybrids with good adaptability and high quality fruit under changing environmental and biological conditions. In the study, a total of 33 morpho-biochemical traits enabled an assessment of the genetic variability, diversity, and structure in a collection of 28 diverse germplasm lines of guava. Results showed that highly significant genetic variability existed in the studied traits in the guava germplasm. The coefficient of variation values for the qualitative and quantitative traits varied from 23.5–72.36 to 1.39–58.62%, respectively. Germplasm Thai, Lucknow-49, Punjab Pink, Psidium friedrichsthalianum, and Shweta had the highest fruit weight (359.32 g), ascorbic acid content (197.27 mg/100 g fruit), total phenolic content (186.93 mg GAE/100 g), titratable acidity (0.69 percent), and antioxidant capacity (44.49 μmolTrolox/g), respectively. Fruit weight was positively correlated with ascorbic acid content; however, titratable acidity was negatively correlated with fruit weight. The principal component analysis (PCA) was 84.2% and 93.3% for qualitative and quantitative traits, respectively. Furthermore, K-mean clustering was executed; the population was grouped into three clusters for both traits. Additionally, the dendrogram using agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC), where all the germplasm were grouped into four clusters, revealed that among the clusters, clusters III and IV were highly divergent. The high variability, diversity, and structure could be utilized for the breeding programme of guava and also explored for molecular analysis using next-generation technology to enhance the guava yield and nutrition properties and also develop the climate resilient technology to fulfill the existing demand gap and nutrition availability, which could not only mitigate the nutrition requirement but also enhance the easy availability of fruits year-round.

Attractive peel colour and quality development in Kinnow (Citrus nobilis Lour x Citrus deliciosa Tenara) is a prime requisite for its fair market price. The objective of study was to find out the impact of canopy position, date of harvesting and nutrition on yield and quality of Kinnow mandarin. A field experiment was conducted in a four year old Kinnow orchard using factorial randomized block design with three replications. There were nine treatments comprised of various N, P, K levels and one control; two canopy positions (external and internal) and three harvesting dates (06.12.13, 26.12.13 and 16.01.14). Statistical analysis using SAS 9.3 software and Tukey's HSD test revealed the significance of various treatments, canopy positions and harvesting dates (P<0.01).The treatment comprising 400g+600g+240g (N+P2O5+K2O/plant) was found the best among other treatments with respect to yield (20.06 kg/tree) and other quality parameters (TSS, acidity, ascorbic acid and total carotenoids). Fruits which are present on external canopy of tree were superior in terms of quality (TSS, ascorbic acid, total carotenoids) as compared to fruits present on internal canopy of the tree.The Kinnow fruits harvested during the last week of December were found superior in terms of total carotenoids in juice and peel and ascorbic acid content. While the fruits harvested in second week of January were found superior in terms of TSS and acidity. Application of 400g, 600g and 240g of NPK respectively was found beneficial for quality fruit production of Kinnow. Quality of Kinnow fruits vary as per canopy position and date of harvesting, hence they should harvest at different times and also from different canopy positions according to purpose.

No abstract