Variability of Bullock's heart (Annona reticulata L.) species in central zone of Kerala

Bullock's heart (Annona reticulata L.) is one of the common species of Annona found in Kerala. This species is considered to be an underutilized fruit crop with tremendous potential but maintained as a neglected crop in homesteads of Kerala. Hence considering its nutritional and medicinal values a study was conducted during 2014–16 to assess the variability of the crop and identify promising types. A survey was conducted in homesteads of three districts of Kerala covering Ernakulam, Thrissur and Palakkad. Thirty accessions in the age group from four to eight years were studied. The accessions probably contain duplicates or similarity regarding qualitative characters. Among the various quantitative characters yield of fruits per tree (46.55%), fruit weight (34.62%), number of fruits per tree (23.37%), shelf life (23.16%) and acidity (21.86%) were the highly variable parameters considering the range and CV. But total sugar (3.82%) and reducing sugar (4.47%) exhibited low variation. The fruit and quality parameters were the characters that contributed variability in the accessions. The clustering of accession based on principal component analysis resulted in eighteen clusters and among them the accessions; AR 2, AR 11 and AR 21 were found to be superior based on fruit and quality parameters and hence designated as promising types.