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Annonaceous fruits are characterized by a serious problem of fruit set, and hand pollination is commonly practiced for improving the set. Because we observed that allied Annona spp. are freely crossable and often produce attractive Fo fruits, the possibility of using their pollen in hand pollination was investigated. A total of 1080 flowers of cv. Arka Sahan in 2003 and 3420 in 2004 were pollinated with A. atemoya Hort., A. cherimola Mill., A. reticulata L., A. squamosa L., and self-pollen. Pollen source had significant effects in both or either year on all 14 fruit traits studied except days to ripening. A. squamosa pollen gave the highest fruit set (greater than 91%) and the heaviest fruits (greater than 600 g). Good to moderate fruit set was recorded with A. reticulata and self-pollen (31% to 86%); and with A. atemoya and A. cherimola pollen, the set was poor (4% to 13%), whereas natural set was as low as 2%. ‘Arka Sahan’ fruits resulting from A. squamosa pollen showed quicker fruit maturity (128 days) and least weight loss on ripening (13%). Evaluation of fruit pulp quality revealed that pollen source and year had significant effects on the total soluble solids and acidity but not their ratio. Mean number of seeds per 100 g fruit was found to vary (6 to 11) with pollen source used. A. squamosa and A. reticulata pollen had higher seed count with good to moderate fruit size and symmetrical shape, but those from the rest of the pollen sources neither possessed good size nor shape. Results clearly showed that ‘Arka Sahan’ could be successfully hand pollinated with A. squamosa pollen. The differential ability of pollen sources to fertilize number of ovules and set seeds per fruit rather than the pollen genotype had a significant effect on many fruit traits like size, symmetry, skin thickness, and total soluble solids, which we describe as ”pseudo-xenia.” Useful pseudo-xenic effect is worth exploiting in fruit culture.

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Fruits from five accessions of mulberry ( Morussp.) representingMorus nigra, Morus lavigeta, and Morus alba were evaluated for ferric reducing antioxidant potential, diphenyl picryl hydrazyl radical scavenging ability, total phenols, flavonoids, anthocyanins, and ascorbic acid contents. In fresh fruits, higher antioxidant capacity was found in M. nigra followed by M. lavigeta and the lowest capacity was observed in M. alba. Higher ferric reducing antioxidant potential and diphenyl picryl hydrazyl scavenging capacities were mainly due to higher anthocyanins. Among the black accessions evaluated, Acc. No. 362 and 497 recorded the highest ferric reducing antioxidant potential (4,515.75 and 4,224.24 mg ascorbic acid equivalent antioxidant capacity 100 g −1 dry wt, respectively), diphenyl picryl hydrazyl (IC50 values of 0.124 and 0.116 mg −1 , respectively), and anthocyanin (4,255.65 and 4,103.93 mg/100 g −1 dry wt, respectively) content when compared to other accessions. Accession number 249 ( M. alba) with white colored fruits recorded the lowest antioxidant capacity. A phenolic acid profile of fruits indicated that these accessions are rich in caffeic and gallic acids. Gentisic and protocatechuic acids were also found in fairly good quantities. Dried fruits also recorded very high antioxidant (0.18-2.32 g ascorbic acid equivalent antioxidant capacity 100 g −1 dry weight) and diphenyl picryl hydrazyl radical scavenging abilities (IC50 of 0.3-2.98 mg, quantity needed for removing 50% of diphenyl picryl hydrazyl radicals).

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Atemoya (Annona cherimola Mill. 9 A. squamosa L) and A. reticulata L. possess several contrasting foliage characteristics. Two hundred and fifty trispecies hybrids of atemoya and A. reticulata were therefore studied to investigate the inheritance of four foliage characteristics. Segregation for leaf colour (green or dark green), leaf angle (erect or drooping), leaf apex shape (rounded or pointed) and time of leaf fall (early or late or intermediate) into discreet phenotypic classes revealed that their inheritance followed simple Mendelian genetics. Based on phenotypes of parents and the segregating population, and the genetic ratios obtained, allelic symbols were assigned to four leaf characteristics. Duplicate dominant gene interaction governed the leaf colour and leaf position. Thus individuals with single or both the dominant genes (A-B-, A-bb, aaB-) produce green colour leaves and those with recessive genes (aabb) dark colour leaves. Likewise erect leaf individuals are C-D-, C-dd, ccD-and those with drooping leaves are ccdd. Further a single gene determined shape of leaf apex that was either rounded (Rr) or pointed (rr). Segregation of progenies for leaf fall into early (J E J E ), intermediate (J E J L ) and late (J L J L ) suggested that codominant alleles were responsible for time of leaf fall. The inheritance studies reported in this paper should guide in Annonaceous fruit breeding for foliage characteristics or could be used as selection criteria for those important traits with which they are associated.

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