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The present experiment was carried out in Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal during April to June of 2022 to find out the best cultivars of this region. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with seven treatments each replicated thrice. The ten years old seven cultivars (Cricket Ball, PKM-1, PKM-2, PKM-3, CO-1, CO-2 and CO-3) are planted in a square system in a spacing of 5×5 m². The maximum fruit weight was found in CO-1 (73.86 g) and followed by CO-2 (73.53 g). The longest fruit length and dimension were observed from CO-2 (7.00 cm and 5.07 cm respectively). The maximum pulp contains in the cultivar is CO-2 (69.58 g) followed by CO-1 (68.96 g). The maximum value of TSS was found in CO-2 (25.17 °Brix) followed by Cricket Ball (21.22 °Brix) and CO-3 (20.28 oBrix). The lowest acidity was recorded in CO-2 (0.12%) followed by CO-3 (0.16%) and CO-1 (0.20%). The cultivar CO-2 registered the highest values of ascorbic acid (62.85 mg 100 g-1), total sugar (16.78%), non-reducing sugar (6.44%) and TSS: acid ratio (209.72). It can be concluded that CO-2 appeared to be the best variety based on the fruit's physical and quality attributes. As this experiment was carried out based on a limited number of varieties, more research was required on the existing germplasm of India. That might be supported in sapota's future production, processing, and marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persimmon fruit has a high nutritional value and significantly varies between pollination-constant astringent (PCA) and pollination-constant non-astringent (PCNA) persimmons. The astringency type affects sugar, flavonoids, and tannin accumulation and is well known in persimmon fruit. However, the impact of the fruit astringency type on ascorbic acid (AsA) accumulation is limited. In this study, typical PCA varieties ('Huojing' and 'Zhongshi5') and PCNA varieties ('Yohou' and 'Jiro') of persimmon fruit were sampled at four developing stages (S1–S4) to provide valuable information on AsA content variation in PCA and PCNA persimmon. Persimmon fruit is rich in ascorbic acid; the AsA content of the four varieties 'Zhongshi5', 'Huojing', 'Jiro', and 'Youhou' mature fruit reached 104.49, 48.69, 69.69, and 47.48 mg/100 g. Fruit of the same astringency type persimmon showed a similar AsA accumulation pattern. AsA content was significantly higher in PCA than PCNA fruit at S1–S3. The initial KEGG analysis of metabolites showed that galactose metabolism is the major biosynthetic pathway of AsA in persimmon fruit. There were significant differences in galactose pathway-related metabolite content in developing PCA and PCNA fruit, such as Lactose, D-Tagatose, and D-Sorbitol content in PCA being higher than that of PCNA. Combined gene expression and WGCNA analyses showed that the expression of the GME (evm.TU.contig4144.37) gene was higher in PCA-type than in PCNA-type fruit in S1–S3 and exhibited the highest correlation with AsA content (r = 690 **, p < 0.01). Four hub genes, including the DNA methylation gene, methyltransferase gene, F-box, and Actin-like Protein, were identified as potential regulators of the GME gene. These results provide basic information on how astringency types affect AsA accumulation and will provide valuable information for further investigation on AsA content variation in persimmon fruit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pepper is one of the most vitamin C enriched vegetables worldwide. Although applying nitrogen (N) fertilizer is an important practice for high fruit yield in pepper production, it is still unclear how N application regulates pepper fruit vitamin C anabolism at different maturity stage. To further the understanding, we combined physiological and metabolomic analysis to investigate the fruit vitamin C content (including ascorbic acid (AsA) and dehydroascorbic acid (DHA)), related enzyme activity and non-targeted metabolites of field-grown chili pepper produced under different N levels at mature green and red stages. The results showed that increasing N application reduced AsA content in pepper fruit at both maturity stages, but highly elevated DHA content only at mature green stage. Regardless of N application level, AsA content displayed an increasing trend while DHA content was reduced as pepper fruit maturity advanced, resulting in a higher content of total vitamin C at the mature green stage. The L-galactose pathway, D-galacturonate pathway, and myo-inositol pathway were identified for AsA biosynthesis. The involved precursor metabolites were mainly negatively regulated by increasing N application, and their accumulation increased when pepper fruit developed from green to red stage. Meanwhile, the activities of key enzymes and metabolites in relation to degradation and recycling processes of AsA and DHA were increased or did not change with increasing N application, and they were differently influenced as fruit maturing. As a result, the recommended N application level (250 kg N ha-1) could maintain relatively high total vitamin C content in pepper fruits without yield loss at both maturity stages. These findings highlight the importance of optimizing N application level to maximize vitamin C content in pepper fruits, and provide a better understanding of the maturity stage-dependent N regulation on vitamin C anabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful seed production depends on the variety, the environment, and the agricultural practices. Limited information is available on the effects of green podpicking treatments on the production of seeds. Therefore, two-season field experiments were conducted in 2019 and 2020 to study the effects of four green fruit picking treatments (no green fruit picking ‘T1’, first two pickings ‘T2’, first 4 pickings ‘T3’, and first 6 pickings ‘T4’) and six varieties (Pusa Sawani ‘V1’, Emerald ‘V2’, Eskandarany ‘V3’, Baladi Assiut ‘V4’, Beghera Iraqi ‘V5’, and NOKH-1002 “F1 hybrid okra ‘V6’) on okra growth and seed yield and quality. The results of the experiment showed that okra plants of T1, followed by those treated with T2 had higher number of dry pods/plant, weight of pods/plant, and seed weight (kg/feddan), seed vitamin C, and pH in both seasons. Plants of T3 were significantly taller than T1 in both seasons. There were differential responses of the studied varieties to the picking treatments. Plants of ‘Eskandarany’ with no pickings, followed by ‘Emerald’ with two pickings always had higher number of dry pods, weight of pods/plant, and seed weight (kg/feddan). We can conclude that okra plants with no green fruit picking, as compared to two, four, and six fruit pickings, can be the best option for seed production due to the observed higher number of dry pods, weight of pods/plant, seed yield and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimation of general (GCA) and specific combining ability analysis (SCA) in tomato was performed through line χ tester method using eight lines, four testers and their 32 F1 hybrids. The line, CLN-138 was good general combiner for fruit weight, pericarp thickness, TSS, lycopene and titrable acidity while the line CLN-104 for fruit yield, locules per fruit, fruit shape index, TSS and titrable acidity. Significant GCA effects were for the line CLN-154 for fruit yield, fruit shape index, lycopene and titrable acidity; and tester, LBR-21 for fruit weight, dry matter and TSS. Among the crosses, the combination PVB-1 χ LBR-12 recorded good specific combiner for fruit weight, pericarp thickness and TSS; PVB-1 x LBR-10 for fruit yield, cross CLN-138 χ LBR-21 for dry matter, TSS and lycopene; and cross, PVB- 4 χ LBR-21 for fruit weight, locules per fruit and fruit shape index with significant SCA effects. The estimates of σ2SCA/σ2GCA were recorded greater than unity for all the traits except average fruit weight and ascorbic acid content which clearly indicated the predominance of non-additive gene in these characters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bombai' is a popular litchi variety of West Bengal but susceptible to fruit cracking which reduces the market price. Till now numbers of research trial conducted in litchi with different chemicals but reports on impact of application of brassinolide in reduction of fruit cracking maintaining quality attributes are limited. Therefore, an experiment was conducted during January-May of 2019-20 at the Experimental Farm of Horticultural Research station, Mondouri, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidayala, Nadia, West Bengal, India to evaluate the effect of different dose of brassinolide on fruit yield, quality and reduction of cracking in litchi. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design comprising five treatments of brassinolide [T1: Brassinolide (0.5 mg l-1), T2: Brassinolide (1.0 mg l-1), T3: Brassinolide (1.5 mg l-1), T4: Brassinolide (2.0 mg l-1) and T5: Control (water spray)] with four replication/treatment. The solutions were applied two times; first before anthesis and another at 15 days after anthesis. Result revealed that brassinolide increased the number of fruits per panicle and significantly increased individual fruit weight, length, diameter, and yield. Among different treatments, brassinolides at 1 mg l-1 (two-time application i.e., 15 days before and after anthesis) is identified to be superior considering all qualitative aspects i.e., maximum fruit weight (26.40 g), fruit length (5.15 cm) and yield (95.88 kg plant-1). This treatment also exhibited maximum TSS (21.22°Brix), total sugar (14.11%), ascorbic acid (37.42 mg 100 g-1) and anthocyanin (23.13 mg 100 g-1) content with minimum (9.12%) fruit cracking. The control treatments registered minimum values for all parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate how sodium selenite (Na2SeO3) regulated the content of vitamin C (Vc) in strawberry fruit, we explored the effects of Na2SeO3 on the enzymes responsible for Vc metabolism. The findings showed that 10 mg/L Na2SeO3 improved the activities of ascorbate peroxidase (APX), monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR), glutathione reductase (GR), l-galactono-1,4-lactone dehydrogenase (GalLDH) at periods of young fruit (YFP), small fruit (SFP), middle fruit (MFP), large fruit (LFP), white fruit (WFP), colour-changed fruit (CFP) and ripen fruit (RFP). 30 mg/L Na2SeO3 improved the activities of APX, MDHAR, GR and GaILDH at YFP, LFP, WFP, CFP and RFP. 60 mg/L Na2SeO3 improved the activities of MDHAR, GR and GaILDH at all periods studied. In addition, 10 mg/L Na2SeO3 decreased the activity of ascorbate oxidase (AAO) at WFP and CFP. 30 mg/L Na2SeO3 decreased AAO activity at MFP, LFP, WFP and CFP. 60 mg/L Na2SeO3 decreased AAO activity at YFP, SFP, MFP, LFP, WFP and CFP. Meanwhile, all concentrations of Na2SeO3 significantly increased the contents of Vc and Se. Among different concentrations, 30 mg/L Na2SeO3 had better effects on the enzymes responsible for Vc metabolism, which further improved Vc content in strawberry fruit. Besides, all concentrations of Na2SeO3 increased fruit average weight, number of fruits per plant and fruit yield, compared with control. The above results indicated that Na2SeO3 could improve the content of Vc in fruit and fruit yield of strawberries, especially for 30 mg/L Na2SeO3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The South Gujarat hilly part is considered to be a non-traditional area of strawberry cultivation in India. The poor farmers of this region are cultivating strawberries under open field condition. Both, the yield and quality of strawberry fruits of this region are not up-to-the-mark as there in other parts of the country. Hence, a low-cost improved production technology is required to maximize yield as well as improve the quality of strawberry fruits. Methods: Uniform runners of strawberry cv. Winter Dawn were grown in open field under paddy straw as bedding material. Foliar spraying of plant growth regulators viz. NAA (50, 75, 100 and 125 mg l -1) and GA3 (50, 75, 100 and 125 mg l -1) were done at 30 and 60 days after planting. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with control plants receiving no spray treatments and replicated thrice. Result: The plant growth parameters like plant spread, number of leaves, number of crowns, leaf area, length of petiole, number of runners were recorded maximum with the application of 100 mg l -1 GA3. This treatment was also found to be the best in respect of number of flowers, number of fruits, fruit weight, marketable and total fruit yield of strawberry. Strawberry fruits with the highest total soluble solid, ascorbic acid, reducing sugar, non-reducing sugar and total sugar content were recorded in the plants which received 125 mg l-1 NAA. However, the plant growth regulator treatments failed to influence any significant effect on days taken to 50.0 % flowering, fruit firmness and acidity content of strawberry fruits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the importance of foliar application of macro and micro nutrients to increase the yield and quality of guava under high density planting system, an experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design consisting of nine treatment combinations with three replications. [(Control - Fertigation alone), (NPK (19:19:19)), (NPK + Zn), (NPK + Ca), (NPK + B), (NPK + Zn + Ca), (NPK + Zn + B), (NPK + Ca + B), (NPK + Zn + Ca + B). Among the treatments, fruit weight (225.22 g), fruit volume (215.35 ml), number of fruits per plant (80.35), fruit yield per plant(17.67 kg plant-1), TSS(10.60 0Brix), titratable acidity (0.196 %) and pectin content (1.31 %) was found to be significantly higher with the foliar application of NPK @ 1% + Zn @ 0.5 % + B @ 0.4%. The foliar spray of NPK @ 1% + Ca@ 0.2% + B@ 0.4% significantly increased the fruit diameter (7.85 cm), and ascorbic acid content (159.84 mg 100g-1). Thus, foliar spray of NPK, zinc and boron maintained more number of fruits per plant and improved the fruit set leading to an 18% increase in yield. Whereas, the addition of calcium to the plants increased the ascorbic acid content of the fruit and pectin that enhanced the shelf life of the fruit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Triacontanol mitigating the adverse effects of salinity stress. • Triacontanol mitigating oxidative stress. • Triacontanol promotes essential elements uptake and limits harmful ions accumulation. • Triacontanol application improves leaf water relations. Salt stress is a significant factor that leads to various detrimental effects on pomegranate trees. This study was undertaken with the primary objective of developing a treatment strategy aimed at mitigating the adverse impacts of salinity in fields, and its negative reflections on the post-harvest quality of pomegranate fruit. At the commencement of the study, we utilized response surface methodology (RSM) to assess a range of triacontanol (TRA) concentrations along with different spray frequencies. Our investigation revealed that applying 10 and 20 µM TRA three times proved to be the most effective treatments. Accordingly, the effect of these concentrations was studied in depth. The treatment with TRA at concentrations of 10 and 20 µM demonstrated significant positive effects. TRA effectively mitigated the harmful impacts of salinity, preserved the plant's nutrient and antioxidant content, and led to an increase in productivity. Moreover, TRA treatments had a notable effect on enhancing post-harvest storability of fruits during storage at 5 ̊C and 90 % RH for 12 weeks. TRA treatments resulted in higher concentrations of mineral nutrients (N, P, K, and Ca), porphyrin concentration, relative water contents, activities of CAT, POD, and SOD, glycine betaine, proline, amino acids, total phenolics, and total carbohydrates, additionally, TRA treatments led to increased fruit weight and fruit yield compared to the control group. Moreover, TRA treatments attained lower hydrogen peroxide, membrane permeability, malondialdehyde, Na, and Cl compared with control. Indeed, the positive effects of TRA treatments extended to fruit storability. TRA treatments resulted in a notable decrease in the percentage of decay, weight loss, and softness. Furthermore, TRA treatments demonstrated efficacy in preserving TSS, husk color, ascorbic acid, and anthocyanin content in the arils. These combined benefits highlight the potential of using TRA as a practical and effective method to alleviate salt stress and enhance pomegranate fruit storability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improvement of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) has been constrained by a lack of adequate information on genetic control of fruit characteristics. Generation mean analysis was employed to understand the nature of gene action involved in conditioning of the fruit physico-chemical characters length, diameter, weight, total chlorophyll, β-carotene, and ascorbic acid contents, utilizing two contrasting crosses involving botanical varieties of bitter gourd. In both crosses, dominance, additive, and most of the epistatic components, were significant indicating a complex nature of inheritance for all characters under study. The dominance × dominance interaction effect was larger than the additive × additive effect. Duplicate epistasis in both crosses indicated hindrance in advancement through selection. Most characters are under control of non-additive gene action, and the magnitude of additive component was lower than dominance × dominance component; selection for most characters might be difficult. Dominance estimates indicated there would be less likelihood of isolating genotypes with fruit of increased size and having high β-carotene content from the crosses involving small-fruited M. charantia var. muricata Willd. as a parent because small fruit exhibited dominance. There would be a possibility of isolating genotype with fruit having high ascorbic acid content in segregating generations of these cross combinations. Selection for improvement of fruit physico-chemical characters should be delayed to later generations of segregating populations in bitter gourd. The modified bulk method of selection is recommended, in which selection is performed after attaining homozygosity for maximum heterozygous loci. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fruits of Capsicum chinense, a native species of Amazon Basin, express high levels of bioactive components such as vitamin C and carotenoids; some of them with pronounced pro-vitamin A activity such as β-carotene, which confers high economic potential to this species. The characterization of C. chinense germplasm helps in its management and conservation. Therefore, this practice is considered crucial for the identification of genotypes with superior characteristics, especially in relation to agronomic aspects and chemical-nutritional characteristics of fruits. This study aimed to characterize 55 C. chinense accessions collected from the Brazilian Amazon in terms of their agronomic and chemical-nutritional descriptors aiming to identify superior genotypes for these traits. The characterization was performed in a completely randomized design with 5 replications in non-heated environment. There was significant difference for all descriptors, confirming the variability among accessions. High heritability estimates for descriptors, such as fruit yield (95.1%) and vitamin C content of fruit (92.4%), was found to be associated with high CVg/CVe ratios of these traits, indicating a favorable condition for the selection of superior genotypes for these characteristics. A considerable part of the accessions expressed averages higher than the checks, notably for the fruit yield and the content of vitamin C. The cluster analysis resulted in the formation of 11 groups, corroborating the high variability of accessions for the agronomic and chemical-nutritional aspects of fruits. The evaluated C. chinense germplasm thus expressed high fruit yield and vitamin C content in the fruits, which makes it a promising source for the selection of superior genotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was carried out in order to determine effects of hand thinning on fruit quality and yield. The branch based fruit thinnings were applied at six different rates of fruit/leaf (F/L) (1/1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6). The study conducted two years and pomological analysis were performed in collected fruits from the branches. According to the results, the highest values in terms of fruit/leaf ratio were obtained from 1/1 F/L application for yield, total soluble solids (HM-TSS) and titratable acidity at harvest maturity (HM-TA) period; 1/2 F/L application for TSS at ripening period (RP-TSS) and fruit peel colour both at harvest maturity (HM-FPC) and ripening period (RP-FPC); 1/3 F/L application for vitamin C content; 1/5 F/L application for fruit weight and fruit flesh colour at the ripening period; 1/6 F/L application for fruit firmness, fruit lenght, fruit diameter, titratable acidity at ripening period (RP-TA) and titratable acidity at harvest maturity period (HM-TA). It can be concluded that the better results obtained from the applications of 1/5 and 1/6 F/L thinning ratio in view of yield and quality, and so these applications may suggested to be applied in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research summarized and validated the individual selection of camu-camu (Myrciaria dubia (Kunth) McVaugh) plants. 43 progenies, previously selected in genetic tests and fields of producers of flood areas, were evaluated. Each progeny was installed in a row of 10 half-sister plants, with a space of 3x2 m. Using the SELEGEN (Reml / Blup) Model 63 program, four crops were analyzed, and individuals were selected for each of the 16 descriptors evaluated. For fruit yield, the Tipishca-Río Tigre population stood out, occupying 5 of the first 10 places. The individuals TT0725-4 (Tigre-Tipishca) turned out to be a natural recombinant for fruit yield / weight. And individual 64-8 turned out to be triple recombinant (yield / fruit weight / ascorbic acid). The descriptors with the highest genetic control with r ≥ 0.30 were: average fruit weight, brix degrees, plant height, number of basal branches and petiole length. The criteria of similarity of the morphological markers with the fruit yield are proposed as predictive indexes of productivity. The plant height at two years of age was the most important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field experiment was conducted at Horticultural Research Centre (HRC) of SVPUAT, Meerut during the year 2017-18 to investigate the effect of integrated use of organic and inorganic sources of nutrients on growth, yield and quality of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) var. Pusa Rohini under field condition. There were 6 treatments of integrated nutrient management, viz. T1-NPK 100% (120:60:50 kg/ha), T2-FYM 100% (25 t/ha), T3-VC 100% (8 t/ha), T4-NPK 75% + FYM 25% (6.25 t/ha), T5-NPK 75% + VC 25% (2 t/ha), T6-NPK 50% + FYM 50% (12.5 t/ha), T7-NPK 50% + VC 50% (4 t/ha), T8-NPK 50% + FYM 25% (6.25 t/ha) + VC 25% (2 t/ha) and T9-Control (No organic and inorganic fertilizers). The findings revealed that the treatment T4-NPK 75% + FYM 25% (6.25 t/ha) was found superior in terms of plant height, plant spread, number of primary branches plant-1, number of leaves plant-1 and diameter of main shoot as compared to control. However, minimum days taken to first flowering and days taken to first fruit formation exhibited by the application of T8-NPK 50% + FYM 25% (6.25 t ha-1) + VC 25% (2 t ha-1). The yield parameters like maximum number of fruit/plant, length of fruit, fruit weight plant-1, fruit yield plot-1 and fruit yield ha-1 produced by the treatment T4-NPK 75% + FYM 25% (6.25 t/ha). The maximum peel thickness was observed under the treatment T4-NPK 75% + FYM 25% (6.25 t/ha) while, maximum total soluble solids (TSS) and ascorbic acid was obtained from the fruits treated with T8-NPK 50% + FYM 25% (6.25 t ha-1) + VC 25% (2 t ha-1) during course of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study involving 5 cherry cultivars was conducted in 2015-2016. The varieties 'Techlovan', 'Summit', 'Sylvia', 'Kordia' and 'Regina' were planted in 2010 in the Experimental Orchard of the Department of Pomology in Warsaw-Wilanów on GiSelA5 rootstock. The aim of the study was to evaluate the production value and dessert fruit quality as well as health proprieties of the tested cultivars' fruits and select the most valuable ones. It was shown that the varieties differed in fruit set and yielding as well as fruit quality (i.e. fruit size, firmness, soluble solid content, acidity) and health benefits (i.e. polyphenol, anthocyanin, and ascorbic acid content). 'Techlovan' trees had the lowest yield, but their fruits were of high quality. 'Kordia' and 'Regina' also provided high quality fruit with high total polyphenol content. In contrast, the 'Sylvia' cultivar had a high yield, but the fruit obtained from it was of poor quality. All tested cultivars had similar vitamin C content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread application of biostimulants with a growing trend represents sustainable practices aimed at improving growth and yield and alleviating stresses in green agricultural system. Phthalanilic acid (PPA), with biostimulatory functions, has been increasingly applied to fruit and vegetable production. However, its specific biostimulatory effects on growth and development of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) plants is still unclear. In this study, the regulatory function of foliar spraying PPA at the flowering timing in morphometric (length, width, single pod weight and yield), physiological (relative electrical conductivity), and biochemical (antioxidant enzymes activity, photosynthetic pigment, malondialdehyde, vitamin C, soluble protein, and soluble sugar content) parameters of cowpea plants were investigated. In general, PPA treatments exhibited higher antioxidant enzymes activities (with an increase of 11.89–51.62% in POD), lower relative conductivity (with a decrease of 22.66–62.18%), increased photosynthetic pigment levels and amounts of free proline (with an increase of 24.62–90.52%), and decreased malondialdehyde. Furthermore, the length, width and weight of single pod, podding rate (with an increase of 19.64%), vitamin C, soluble protein (with an increase of 18.75%), and soluble sugar content were increased by 200 mg·L−1 PPA. These data, together with an increased yield of 15.89%, suggest that PPA positively regulates the growth and development, improving fruit quality and yield, especially at 200 mg·L−1. This study indicates that PPA has biostimulatory effects in cowpea production and shows application prospect in field cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]