Studies on Flowering Time, Floral Traits and Fruit Setting Behaviour of Different Sapota Cultivars Singh Gurdhian*, Bons Harsimrat K, Uppal Gurteg Singh Department of Fruit Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 004, India *Corresponding author: 1999gurdhian@gmail.com
Online Published on 19 April, 2024. Abstract Four sapota cultivars i.e. PKM-1, PKM-5, Kalipatti and Cricket Ball were evaluated for floral studies and fruit setting behaviour under Punjab conditions. Among three flowering seasons of sapota, July-August flowering was found to be the best in terms of fruit set, fruit retention and fruit drop. Among four sapota cultivars evaluated, cultivar PKM-5 showed less heterostyly condition which attributed towards higher fruit set as compared to other cultivars. Among all sapota cultivars, pollen viability and pollen germination was recorded to be the maximum during May-June flowering (56.14 % and 35.60 %, respectively) and July-August flowering (76.39 % and 52.45 %, respectively) in cultivar PKM-5. Moreover, cultivar PKM-5 showed promising results in terms of maximum fruit set (24.96 %), fruit retention (79.95 %) and minimum fruit drop (16.04 %) during July-August flowering. Top Keywords Cultivars, Flowering, Fruit drop, Fruit retention, Fruit set. Top |