Studies on Characters of Chironja Seedling Trees

Abstract

A search for good chironja clones was performed on several chironja seedlings grown on a Typic Tropohumults soil at the Corozal Agricultural Substation . This research demonstrated that chironja seedlings can be selected for yield per tree, fruit size, number of seeds per fruit, peel weight, citric acid, pH, soluble solids to acid ratio, and quality index. However, the high coefficient of variability for number of seeds, cumulative weight and number of fruits per tree during eight bearings and the quality index indicates that the probability of selecting for these characters is higher than that for fruit size, citric acid, pH, and soluble solids/acid ratio. The study also showed a great variability of the seedlings, following the frequency distribution typical of populations, indicating that in order to maintain uniform populations the chironja must be propagated through vegetative plant tissues, like grafting, instead of by seeds.