Variability in custard apple (Annona squamosa L.) genotypes for qualitative characters in Chhattisgarh plains

Abstract

Eighteen custard apple genotypes viz., BSPCA-1, BSPCA-2, BSPCA-3, BSPCA-4, BSPCA-5, BSPCA-6, BSPCA-7, BSPCA-8, BSPCA-9, MSCA-1, MSCA-2, MSCA-3, MSCA-4, MSCA-5, MSCA-6, MSCA-7, MSCA-8 and MSCA-9 were evaluated. All 18 genotypes were evaluated for physico-chemical aspects. The results revealed a great variability for various characters which helped to identify the most promising genotypes. Observations on qualitative traits viz., TSS, titrable acidity, ascorbic acid, total sugar, reducing sugar and non-reducing sugar were recorded. The variation was observed for fruit chemical characters viz., TSS (20.19 to 25.22 0B), acidity (0.32 to 0.45%), ascorbic acid (32.4 to 37.8 mg/100 g pulp), total sugar (13.01 to 18.20%), reducing sugar (10.80 to 14.50%) and non-reducing sugar (2.10 to 3.70%). On the basis of performance of individual genotype, BSPCA-1, BSPCA- 4, BSPCA-8, MSCA-1 and MSCA-5 was identified as promising genotypes.