Evaluation of bael (Aegle marmelos Correa) germplasm for processing

Bael is an important fruit crop of the Indian sub continent and diverse variability in the genotypes and quality traits are found through out the country, particularly central parts of Uttar Pradesh. Marmelosin the panacea of stomach ailments is an active principal constituent of bael fruit. Product like candey, RTS, squash and preserve are prepared from its pulp and can also be preserved by canning. Preserved pulp can be blended well with ice cream and confectionary preparation. To explore the processing potential of this important fruit an experiment was conducted on seven genotypes (G₁, G₂, G₃, G₄, G₅, G₆, G₇) collected from different locations of Etawah, Auraiya and Fatehpur districts of U.P. Physico-chemical analysis of fruits revealed considerable variability in fruit weight ranging from 184.66 to 1553.33 g; fruit length and width from 12.33 to 19.40 cm and 6.66 to 12.43 cm, respectively, volume of fruit from 105.00 to 903.33 cc, specific gravity from 1.14 to 1.75, shell thickness from 1.13 to 3.33 mm and pulp weight from 142.66 to 898.00 g. The number of seeds/ fruit in the genotypes varied between 25.33 to 126.66, seed weight per fruit from 7.33 to 24.00 g, pulp recovery percentage in the genotypes ranged from 85.22 to 92.66 while the pulp seed ratio 11.33 to 81.98 and fibers weight 1.23 to 2.43 g. Total soluable solids ranged from 30.00 to 41.33 Brix, acidity from 1.52 to 1.77 %, ascorbic acid from 4.76 to 7.13 mg (per 100g), TSS acid ratio from 18:41:1 to 26:57:1 reducing sugar from 3.76 to 5.16 % non reducing sugar from 6.73 to 11.26 % and total sugar from 10.56 to 16.43 %.