Variability in bael (Aegle marmelos Corr.) genotypes from eastern Uttar Pradesh

Surveys were conducted in the districts Gonda, Basti, Gorakhpur, Deoria, Azamgargh, Varanasi, Jaunpur, Sultanpur and Barabanki of Uttar Pradesh during the year 2008–2009. A total of 48 genotypes having desirable traits were collected and physico-chemical analysis of fruits was done. Genotypes showed considerable variation for fruit morphological and physico-chemical traits. The number of fruits per tree varied from (110–315), fruit yield per tree (94.50–356.50 kg), fruit weight (0.55–3.10 kg) among the different genotypes collected. The fruit characteristics, viz., fruit length ranged from (7.70–17.5 cm), fruit circumference (29.0–61.0 cm), number of seeds per fruit (33–200), number of seed sacs per fruit (9–20), shell weight per fruit (0.10–0.73 kg), shell thickness (2.0–5.80 mm), seed weight per fruit (2.8–15.8 g), weight of crude fibre (0.79–2.03 g/100 g pulp), pulp percentage (50.77–73.03) and shell percentage (17.15–32.31) among the different genotypes. With regards to biochemical parameters, TSS ranged from (26.0–44.4°B), acidity (0.30–0.56%), total sugars (13.58–25.53%), reducing sugar (5.59–11.30%), non reducing sugar (4.30–17.07%), vitamin-C content (5.09–18.92 mg/100 g pulp), tannin content (2.01–4.53%) and total carotenoids (1.38–2.72 mg/100 g pulp) among the different genotypes analyzed. On the basis of overall assessment, seven genotypes, viz., T₂, T₁₄, T₁₅, T₂₀, T₃₁, T₄₄ and T₄₇ were found most promising.