EVALUATION OF CUSTARD APPLE HYBRIDS FOR FRUIT YIELD AND QUALITY ATTRIBUTING CHARACTERS

Custard apple (Annona squamosa L.) is delicious fruit of the tropics and has been naturalized in the Deccan plateau due to its hardy nature. Custard apple is no longer poor man’s fruit as it fetches an even higher price than several other fruits. Cultivation of custard apple has gained momentum in Andhra Pradesh and its neighboring states. There is a need to identify high yielding cultivars in custard apple with quality and shelf life. Under an Annona improvement programme, six existing promising hybrids were evaluated for different horticultural traits from 2001 to 2006 at the Fruit Research Station, Sangareddy. All the hybrids varied in fruit shape (round, conical and cordate), fruit colour (yellowish green, grayish green, light green and red), pulp colour (creamy white, light pink and white), areole shape (tuberculate, hexagonal) and texture (course, soft and meaty). Time of fruit maturity varied from September 2nd fortnight and lasted till the end of December. Hybrid-1 (‘17/4 Atemoya’ × ‘Balanagar’) was earliest to mature. Maximum fruit weight (250 g) was recorded in Hybrid-1 (‘17/4 Atemoya’ × ‘Balanagar’) followed by Hybrid-6 (‘15/3 Red Sitaphal’ × ‘Atemoya’) (225 g) and Hybrid-4 (‘1/6 British Guinea’ × ‘Atemoya’) (220 g). Among all the hybrids, maximum number of fruits per tree (94) was recorded in Hybrid-1 (‘17/4 Atemoya’ × ‘Balanagar’) followed by Hybrid-6 (‘15/3 Red Sitaphal’ × ‘Atemoya’) (67). The TSS ranged from 22 to 28°B and was found to be maximum in Hybrid-2 (‘15/2 Red Sitaphal’ × ‘Pondapple’), while the seed content per fruit was also minimum (20) in this hybrid. Based on overall performance the Hybrid-1 (‘17/4 Atemoya’ × ‘Balanagar’) and Hybrid-3 (‘15/3 Red Sitaphal’ × ‘Atemoya’) and Hybrid-2 (‘15/2 Red Sitaphal’ × ‘Pondapple’) were found to be excellent in quality with pleasant aroma, smooth pulp texture with less seed, good sugar acid blend and shelf life.