Performance of some new apple cultivars for yield and physico-chemical characters under mid-hill conditions of Uttarakhand

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the yield and physico-chemical performance of 18 apple cultivars. The highest fruit yield (46.11 kg/tree), fruit weight (217.33 g), fruit volume (231.67 cc), fruit length (6.98 cm) and fruit diameter (8.22 cm) was recorded in ‘Spur Type Red Delicious’. The lowest fruit yield (19.12 kg/tree) and fruit length (4.33 cm) was recorded in ‘Chaubattia Anupam’; while, lowest average fruit weight (64.67 g), fruit volume (63.33 cc) and fruit diameter (5.32 cm) was observed in ‘Gloster’. The maximum TSS was recorded in ‘Skyline Supreme’ (14.73°B) and minimum was in ‘Chaubattia Princess’ (11.26°B). However, the highest titratable acidity was recorded in ‘Golden Delicious’ (0.66%) and lowest in ‘Chaubattia Princess’ (0.14%). The cultivar ‘Skyline Supreme’ possessing highest values for ascorbic acid (8.25 mg/100 g), reducing sugars (9.62%), total sugars (12.42%), total carotenoids (235.73 μg/100 g) and total anti-oxidant activity (41.95 mMTE/L) while ‘Prima’ exhibited lowest values of ascorbic acid (3.92 mg/100 g) and total sugar contents (6.15%). The lowest values for reducing sugars (5.13%), total carotenoids (79.45 μg/100 g) and total anti-oxidant activity (30.66 mM TE/L) were recorded in ‘Gloster’, ‘Vermont Spur’ and ‘Stark Spur’, respectively. The cultivar ‘Golden Delicious’ is the most luminous (L*=84.86) and having the highest yellow colour (b*= 67.10) and hue angle (h° = 87.41), whereas ‘Chaubattia Anupam’ showed the highest red colour (a*= 54.15) and Chroma (C*= 67.53). From this investigation it can be inferred that the cultivar ‘Spur Type Red Delicious’ and ‘Skyline Supreme’ performed better in the region under prevailing climatic conditions.