Achievements
Crop Improvement
Mango
The total collection in mango stands at 538. Evaluation of germplasm showed that the variety Sora had the maximum fruit weight (1166 g) followed by the variety Tenneru (945 g). It was to be minimum in Kalakai (88 g). Screening of the 32 mango varieties for fruit fly showed that the varieties Bhuto Bombay and Virudhunagar when exposed to fruit fly under artificial conditions did not record any infestation. The varieties Gopal Bhog, Bhutto Bombay, Manipur, Manibhatta Appe and Virudhunagar did not show any stone weevil infestation.
Arka Udaya: It is a hybrid (Amrapali x Arka Anmol) which possess the semi vigorous growth , bunch bearing characteristics, fruits medium sized (230-240g) and oblong, peel colour of Arka Anmol with pulp characteristics of Amrapali, firm pulp (77%) with deep yellow having high TSS(24°Brix), total carotenoids (13.55mg/100g) and has yield potential of 18-20t /ha with the spacing of 5x5M.
Guava
The total collection in guava stands at 76 including five species.
Arka Kiran: It is a hybrid (Kamsari X Purple Local) possesses the semi-vigorous plant habit. It bears the medium sized round shaped fruits ( 200-220g), Pulp deep pink in colour with Lycopene content of 5-7 mg/100 g, high TSS (14-15 °Brix), medium soft seeds (7.0 kg/cm2 ). It has the yield potential of 35 to 40 t / ha.
Arka Rashmi: It is a hybrid (Kamsari X Purple Local) possess the semi-vigorous plant habit. It bears the medium sized round shaped fruits ( 200-215g), Pulp deep pink in colour with Lycopene content of 4.93 mg/100 g, higher ascorbic acid (235.5 mg /100 g ),high TSS (12-14 °Brix), medium soft seeds (9.0 kg/cm2 ). It has the yield potential of 35 to 40 t / ha.
Sapota
Germplasm of 33 Sapota accessions are being maintained in the field. An open pollinated seedling progeny of Cricket Ball (no.63) isolated has been multiplied by grafted and 20 grafts are planted in field for further evaluation.
Jamun
Nine accessions of Jamun were collected from various sources like KRCC, Arabhavi (6 accessions), CISH, Lucknow (2 accessions) and one Konkan Bahadoli from Regional Fruit Research Station, Vengurle.
Underutilized fruits
At present, 42 accessions of underutilized fruits are being maintained. A total of 19 accessions in jackfruit and 9 in pummelo have been evaluated. The accession G-65 continued to be superior in jackfruit. In pummelo, a pink pulped accession has also been found good with respect to quality.
Papaya
Papaya-drought tolerance
As pollen germination under stress is one of the indirect ways of assessing drought tolerance, different accessions of Carica papaya were evaluated by artificial pollen germination. Amongst the 32 accessions tried, V. cauliflora, Dwarf Lilly and CO6 recorded pollen germination over 50 per cent.
Pomegranate
Two accessions of pomegranate have been introduced from Afghanistan one with acidic taste and the other with sweet and seedlings raised from them. Screening of nearly 500 progenies of Daru, Nana (Yellow) and Nana (Red) was taken up and found that Daru had highest per cent (51.41) of population resistant to BBP. Nearly 5000 seedlings of Daru, Nana and OPs of Bhagwa were raised for evaluation against BBP. Two hybrids of DF x N with less spines were identified as a source of breeding lines.
Strawberry
Sixty six accessions were added. Three hundred forty four putative disease tolerant hybrids with various degree of tolerance to different fungal diseases (based on one season of screening/field survival) are being furthered for rigorous screening.
Passion fruit
A total of twelve genotypes are being maintained.
Production Technology
Canopy architecture (Mango, grapes and fig)
In the field trial involving planting densities of 1111 (3m x 3m), 400 (5m x 5m) and 178 (7.5m x 7.5m) ‘Alphonso’ trees / ha. on ‘Vellaikulumban’ and ‘Olour’ rootstocks with or without the application of paclobutrazol, the vegetative growth parameters were lower for paclobutrazol applied trees and those on Vellaikulamban rootstock. Flowering was more at wider spacing and on trees that received paclobutrazol treatments, the trend being more pronounced with Olour rootstock. The highest fruit yield of 14.63 t / ha during the twelfth orchard year was obtained with 3m X 3m spacing using Olour rootstock and 1.25 g paclobutrazol / tree compared control at 10m X 10m spacing (100 trees / ha) on random Totapuri rootstock without paclobutrazol yielding only 4.64 t/ha. The treatment combinations did not significantly affect fruit quality, though acidity tended to be more for closer spacing. Paclobutrazol residues in surface soil (0-15 cm) samples collected from under mango tree canopy at the time of fruit harvest were in the range of 0.044 to 1.145 mg / kg for the lower application rate (0.125 g / tree / year of age) and in the range of 0.096 – 1.88 mg / kg for the higher application rate (0.25 g / tree / year of age), but fruit samples from all the treatment combinations were free of any paclobutrazol residues.
Rejuvenation of old unproductive `Alphonso’ mango trees
Pruning third order branches 30 cm and 45 cm from point of origin increased the mean cumulative fruit yield of 4 years which was almost double compared to control (no pruning). The maximum mean cumulative fruit yield of 86 kg / plant was with 30 cm pruning whereas, control treatment recorded a fruit yield of 47 kg/plant. Fruit quality attributes such as average fruit weight, TSS, acidity and shelf life were not affected by different pruning treatments.
Grapes
In the trial on effect of cane diameter during grand growth period on subsequent bunch size and quality it was observed that highest cane fertility of 86% was recorded in 9 mm thickness and least fertility of 70% was recorded in 12 mm dia. canes. Bunch weight was maximum (557 g) in thicker canes (12 mm) and was least (339 g) in thinner canes (6 mm).
The effect of number of bunch retained per vine on bunch and berry quality showed that highest bunch weight of 721 g was recorded in vines with 40 bunches which also produced uniform coloured berries whereas in the vines having 75 to 80 bunches had highest number of green berries and with a lower bunch weight of 500 g.
Integrated nutrition, high density planting and crop regulation (Fig)
Experiments on high density planting of fig cvs. Poona and Deanna have been conducted and the results indicated that cv. Deanna performed better over Poona for tree spread, pruned wood weight and fruit yield. In both the varieties closer spacing found to be better than normal spacing of 5.0 x 4.0 m. A formula was developed for computing leaf area by non destructive method in cv. Deanna with an R2 value of 81.2%.
Exploitation of stock-scion interactions and sustainable productivity (Mango)
Maximum tree height and spread were recorded with Olour rootstock followed by Turpentine rootstock and least with Totapuri rootstock. Maximum trunk girth of stock, union and scion were also with Olour rootstock while least value for stock girth was with Vellaikulumban rootstock that for scion girth with Nekkare rootstock and that of graft union with Kensington rootstock. Maximum flowering percentage was on Vellaikulumban followed by Peach and Kensington rootstocks. Fruit yield was highest on Olour rootstock and least on Totapuri rootstock.
Optimizing water productivity and nutrient dynamics through integrated water and nutrient management (mango, grapes and sapota)
Water productivity studies in mango (Arka Anmol), the fruit yield was higher with normal irrigation but decreased with partial root drying treatments. However, the yields were not significant with different partial root drying treatments. The fruit yields were lower with 1-side irrigation and 40% of normal irrigation. The water productivity was higher with partial root drying treatments as compared to normal irrigation. The TSS was not affected by any of the treatments.
The plant height and trunk girth were higher with Raspuri followed by Alphonso and Amarpali. The tree volume varied from 8.8-9.8m3. However, the fruit number and yield was higher with Arka Neelkiran followed by Amarpali and Alphonso. The yield did not show any marked variations with respect to fertigation levels. Among the micronutrients, in general the Zn concentration was lower in all the cultivars when compared to the established standards for mango. In case of Arka Neelkiran higher concentration of Zn in leaf (16 ppm) was recorded compared to 12.2 ppm of Zn in leaf when the full nutrient demand was met through soil application.
Similarly in coloured seedless grapes, normal irrigation with 80% of ER recorded higher number of bunches, bunch weight and yield per plant either with alternate irrigation or with 1 emitter per plant. The yield and yield parameters decreased with decrease in ER and with 1 emitter per plant or with alternate irrigation although the differences were not marked.
In sapota, the fruit yield increased with increase in evaporation replenishment rates and was highest with 60% evaporation replenishment. Application of bio fertilizer (300 g) along with 60% of recommended dose of fertilizer resulted in higher yields.
Organic production of fruit crops (Papaya)
A field trial on organic practices of papaya cv. Arka Prabhat was initiated during September, 2010 with 10 nutrient combinations involving FYM, Bio-fertilizers and Mycorhizae. All the vegetative parameters were found to be non-significant during different treatments. However, fruit yield was found to be significant and maximum fruit yield was recorded with 100% RDF fertilizer treatment (9.28 kg/plant) and least was with no manures fertilizer treatment (4.12 kg/plant). Fruit quality parameters were found to be non-significant.
Intercropping systems in young orchards (Annona)
The experiment was initiated during the current year by early sowing of the seed spice crops, which included fennel, coriander, fenugreek, ajwain, cumin and nigella. Coriander yielded 1.75 t/ha, fenugreek at 1.23 t/ha, cumin at 150 kg/ha and nigella at 150 kg/ ha. The height of the plants at the flowering stage for different crops were recorded which showed 2.6 m for fennel, 1.1 m for coriander, 0.81 m for fenugreek, 1.2 m for ajwain 0.25 m for cumin and 0.36 m for nigella.