Growth, Flowering and Yield Variability in Custard Apple Selections

摘要

The custard apple (Annona squamosa L.) is an important fruit crop with its delicious and perishable fruits. The fruit has delightful sweet taste, flavor with high nutritional value. The custard apple has vast potential and wide adaptability to grow invariable soil and climatic conditions. However, traditionally custard apple was cultivated in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. The varietal stability in custard apple is very low due to cross pollination and propagation through seeds instead through vegetative means. However, no specific recommended variety is available in the custard apple growing belts of Gujarat. There is only one local variety known as Sindhan in the region. There is considerable variation in growth, flowering and yield in existing genotypes. Due to lack of information on genetical inheritance in different selections the present investigation was undertaken to identify the selections having better growth, yield and quality.