Fruit Morpho-Physical and Biochemical Characteristics of some Guava (Psidium guajava L.) Cultivars and Hybrids Under Subtropical Conditions of Himachal Pradesh

The evaluation of seven guava cultivars and hybrids for cultivation in the subtropical region of Himachal Pradesh as compared to predominantly grown cultivars Allahabad Safeda and Luckhnow-49 was done at RHR&TS, Dhaulakuan (Sirmour, HP) during the years 2016-17 and 2017-18. Fruit size (60.57 x 69.70 mm) and weight (171.71 g) were maximum in Lalit with highest fruit yield (16.45 kg/tree) but lowest yield efficiency (7.43 g/cm² TCSA). The fruit shape was ovate with pointed shape at the stalk end in H-1, Shweta and Lucknow-49, whereasothers were round in shape. Flesh colour varied from yellow-white to greyed-yellow to orange-white to greyed-red. Maximum TSS (10.98 °B), total sugars (7.30 %) and reducing sugars (4.84 %) were in Hisar Safeda with minimum acidity (0.19 %). Lucknow-49 has the minimum number of seeds per fruit (123.50). Fruits were soft seeded in Hisar Surkha, whereas, CISH-G-1, Lalit and Allahabada Safeda were medium seeded and the rest were hard seeded. Among nine cultivars and hybrids, Lalit is suitable for table as well as processing purposes whereas among quality characteristics, Hisar Safeda performed better.