Flowering, Fruiting Behavior and Nutritional Quality of Selected Guava Genotypes

Guava is one of the most important commercial fruit crop in Bangladesh due to its high nutrient value, good taste and high health benefits. This study was conducted to investigate the flowering, fruiting behavior and nutritional quality of guava genotype suitable for coastal region of Bangladesh. Fifteen genotypes (PG 01 to PG 15) having satisfactory growth were selected for this study. One branch was randomly selected in each direction (North, South, East and West) to collect field data from each plant. Among the genotypes, the highest percentage (87.62%) of fruit setting and the maximum time (115.8 days) required for fruit maturation were recorded from PG 13 and PG 14, respectively. The PG 12 had the highest fruit weight (312.6 g) and the longest fruit (9.34 cm), whereas the highest diameter (26.28 cm) of fruit was recorded in PG 06. The maximum numbers of seeds (411.20) were counted from PG 10 whereas no seed was obtained in the PG 01 and PG 02. Maximum anthocyanin (0.17 mg/100 g FW), lowest pH (3.31), maximum vitamin C content (91.25 mg/ 100g FW), total sugar (6.56 %) and TSS (5.19 ºBrix) were also recorded in the seedless genotype (PG 01). Moreover, the quality characteristics, pulp percentage of seedless genotype (PG 01 and PG 02) was comparatively higher than the other genotypes. The genotypes PG 01 and PG 02 have shown important pomological traits for further study, variety improvement and selection as new variety.

Keywords:

Genetic variation , nutritional quality , Pomological trait