Fruit Height Research Articles

Genetic Variability, Correlation, and Path Analysis of Thai Commercial Melon Varieties

In the selection phase of melon breeding programs, genetic variability is a critical component for yield improvement. The goals of this study were to discover the variables that affect melon fruit weight and examine genetic variability, correlation, and path analysis of eight melon varieties. The experiment was arranged as a completely randomized block design with 4 blocks. It was conducted between July and September 2021 at the School of Agricultural Technology, Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand. The result found that stem diameter and length, leaf length, width, number, and chlorophyll, day to 50% male and female flowering, and fruit perimeter, height, and weight were highly significant across the varieties. The genotypic coefficients of variation (GCV) of observed variables were all lower than phenotypic coefficients of variation (PCV). Fruit weight (15.462 and 19.865%) had the highest GCV and PCV. High broad-sense heritability was linked to high (H) or moderate (M) genetic advance as a percentage of the mean from stem length (67.606%: H and 21.992%: H), fruit weight (60.586%: H and 24.793%: H), fruit perimeter (76.395%: H and 12.258%: M), and fruit height (69.828%: H and 12.122%: M). The maximum and significant genotypic correlation value was obtained between leaf length and leaf width (r = 1.000). Fruit weight is positively correlated with fruit perimeter (r = 0.940) and fruit height (r = 0.831). According to correlation and path analyses, stem diameter and length, leaf chlorophyll, and fruit perimeter and height were considered variables for fruit weight improvement in the breeding programs. It suggests that the increase in traits with a favorable direct influence on fruit weight may directly contribute to fruit weight.

Artificial neural network as an alternative for peach fruit mass prediction by non-destructive method

The mass and diameter traits of peach fruits are important parameters to define fruit quality, harvest planning, and management of peach production through the estimation of fresh mass. However, currently, fruit mass estimation methods are based on conventional destructive analyzes which, as they are invasive measurements, can take considerable time, in addition to being costly. Thus, this work aimed to use Artificial Neural Networks in the prediction of the fresh mass of peach fruits as an alternative to the destructive method. Fruits of the peach cultivars, 'Tropic Beauty' (G1), 'BRS Kampai' (G2), and 'BRS Rubimel' (G3) were used in the 2017 and 2018 harvests, and the cultivars (G1) and (G2) were used in the 2019 harvest. Fruits were individually measured for fresh mass (FM) (dependent variable), and suture diameter (SD), equatorial diameter (ED), fruit height (FH) (independent variables). Multiple linear regression analysis (R-MLM) and multilayer perceptron artificial neural network (ANN-MLP) were performed, involving the set of dependent variables SD, ED, and FH, all expressed as a function of the independent variable FM. In all scenarios, we observed that ANN_MLP was more effective than R-MLM in predicting FM. The best ANN-MLP was used to predict the mean peach fruit yield of the genotypes and also for their combinations in the 2018 and 2019 harvests. The presence of high values of R2 in the validation sample indicates that the trained network is efficient and has generalization power to predict FM in all situations evaluated. The use of neural networks to predict the fresh mass (FM) of the peach fruit is an alternative to conventional destructive analyzes and the chance to use the same neural network topology in consecutive harvests will allow the collection of data directly in the field, reducing the analysis time and costs.

CULTIVATION OF CUSTARD-APPLE IRRIGATED WITH SALINE WATER UNDER COMBINATIONS OF NITROGEN, PHOSPHORUS AND POTASSIUM

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of combinations of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium doses on the production components of custard-apple irrigated with saline waters. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse, using a Neossolo Regolítico (Entisol) of clay loam texture in Campina Grande-PB, Brazil. The treatments were distributed in a randomized block design, in a 2 × 8 factorial scheme, with three replicates, corresponding to two levels of electrical conductivity of water - ECw (0.8 and 3.0 dS m-1) and eight combinations of fertilization with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (100-100-100; 100-100-125; 100-125-100; 100-125-125; 125-100-100; 125-100-125; 125-125-100 and 125-125-125% of the recommendation, for the third year of cultivation). The combination of 100-100-100% corresponded to 100, 60 and 60 g of N, P2O5, K2O per plant per year, respectively. High concentrations of salts in the irrigation water reduced the number of fruits, fresh fruit mass, total number of seeds and mass of seeds of custard-apple. Plants achieved the best development when grown under 125-100-100, 125-125-125 and 100-100-100% combinations of N-P-K recommendation. Irrigation with ECw of 3.0 dS m-1 associated with the 100-125-125% combination of fertilization increased the average mass and height of the custard-apple fruits.

Construction of a High-Density Genetic Map and Identification of Quantitative Trait Loci Linked to Fruit Quality Traits in Apricots Using Specific-Locus Amplified Fragment Sequencing.

Improving fruit quality is one of the main tasks in modern commercial apricot breeding. Because of the lack of high-density linkage maps and fine mapping, it is difficult to obtain molecular markers that can assist in breeding for quantitative inheritance of fruit quality traits. In this study, specific-locus amplified fragment sequencing was used to genotype 169 seedlings of F1 apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) progenies derived from crossing “Chuanzhihong” (H) with “Saimaiti” (S). After aligning to the Prunus armeniaca reference genome and filtering out low-quality variants, 6,012 high-quality single nucleotide polymorphisms were obtained and employed to construct a genetic map for each parent. The genetic linkage maps showed eight linkage groups of apricot, covering a distance of 809.6 cM in “H” and 1076.4 cM in “S”. The average distance between markers in “H” and “S” was 0.62 and 0.95 cM, respectively. To map quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for fruit quality, we investigated fruit quality traits, including fruit weight (FW), fruit height (FH), fruit lateral width (FL), fruit ventral width (FV), soluble solids content (SSC), and fruit firmness (FF) for all seedlings genotyped in 2018 and 2019. Eleven and nine QTLs linked to fruit quality traits were anchored on the “H” and “S” maps, respectively, and 1,138 putative candidate genes for 16 most significant regions on the corresponding chromosome were identified based on gene annotation. Among them, fruit size contained 648 genes in 11 intervals on the reference genome, SSC contained 372 genes in 3 intervals, and FF contained 117 genes in 2 intervals. Our findings uncovered the genetic basis of apricot fruit quality, and provided candidate genes for further molecular genetic studies on fruit quality and QTL targets for future marker-assisted selection of apricot quality improvement breeding.

Canopy-attention-YOLOv4-based immature/mature apple fruit detection on dense-foliage tree architectures for early crop load estimation

Accurate detection of both immature and mature apples in orchard environments is essential for early crop load management. A near real-time method is proposed in this study for detecting green (early-stage), green–red-mixed (mid-stage; red varieties), or red apples (harvest-stage; red varieties). Both the number of fruits and fruit size were estimated for the entire tree with a single image captured by a low-cost smartphone using two different imaging methods (oblique and panorama modes). An attention mechanism module called the convolutional block attention module (CBAM) was added to the generic YOLOv4 detector to improve the detection accuracy by only focusing on the target canopies. Furthermore, an adaptive layer and larger-scale feature map were included in the modified network structure, enabling it to adapt to various characteristics of fruits and canopies during the entire growing season, such as different fruit colors and sizes, dense-foliage conditions, and severe occlusions. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, we compared our improved model, canopy-attention-YOLOv4 (or CA-YOLOv4), with other commonly adopted models available in the literature, such as the original YOLOv4, Faster R-CNN, and single-shot multibox detector (SSD). Two commonly planted apple varieties, “Envy” and “Scifresh”, were used in the study. The results showed that the proposed CA-YOLOv4 detector performed the best among all the algorithms, with up to ∼3% improvement in terms of fruit counting over the original YOLOv4. With the “Envy” variety, fruit detection accuracies were 86.2%, 87.5%, and 92.6% for the early-, mid-, and harvest stages, respectively, whereas the same were 71.0%, 83.6%, and 86.3% for the “Scifresh” variety, which has denser canopy foliage. Both imaging methods proposed in this study only needed one/single shot targeting the entire fruiting tree, which can be highly efficient for real-world applications in crop load management. Finally, CA-YOLOv4 estimated fruit sizes were compared to manual measurements, achieving up to R2 values of 0.68 in fruit height and 0.66 in fruit width estimations.

Descrição da curva de crescimento do fruto do pessegueiro via modelos não lineares sigmoidais difásicos

Abstract The aim of this study was to describe the growth curve of “Aurora 1” peaches using fruit height and diameter data over time through diphasic sigmoidal models constructed from eight combinations of the following models: Brody, Gompertz and Logistic. Data were obtained from an experiment carried out in 2005 in the municipality of Vista Alegre do Alto, São Paulo, Brazil. The parameters of models were adjusted by the least squares method using the Gauss-Newton algorithm implemented in the R software. Assumptions of normality, homogeneity and independence of residues were verified based on Shapiro-Wilk, Breush and Pagan and Durbin-Watson tests, respectively. The goodness of fit of models was verified according to the corrected Akaike information criterion (AICc), residual standard deviation (RSD), asymptote adjustment index (AI) and nonlinearity measures. All models adjusted for both fruit height and diameter variables met the assumptions of normality, independence and homoscedasticity of errors. In addition, all of them present good quality of fit to fruit height and diameter data, since they presented AI values close to one and low RSD values and non-linearity measures. However, the double Gompertz (GG) and the Logistic + Gompertz (LG) models presented, respectively, the best quality of fit to fruit height and diameter data in relation to the other models. It could be concluded that all diphasic sigmoidal models evaluated showed good fit to height and diameter data and can be used to describe the growth curve of “Aurora-1” peaches, according to goodness of fit criteria. However, it is important to highlight that GG and LG models presented the best quality of fit and can be selected to describe the height and diameter growth of “Aurora 1” peach fruits, respectively, with maximum expected growth close to 63 mm in height and 48 mm in diameter.

Effect of Organic Ecological Soilless Culture Substrate on Tomato Fruit

Based on agricultural biomass resources and utilization in Shaanxi province, this experiment used decomposing mushroom residues, pine needles, and peanut shells compounded with river sand as organic cultivation substrates, compared with garden soil, and carried out pot experiments to study the effect of different soilless cultivation substrates on tomato yield, size and number. The results show that compared with CK1 (garden soil) and CK2 (decomposed fungus residue: river sand = 1:1, volume ratio), the yield of greenhouse tomato of T5 (decomposed fungus residue: pine needles: peanut shells: river sand = 1:1:1:1, volume ratio) can be significantly improved; under the same amount of decomposed fungus residue and river sand, adding peanut shells has a better effect on tomato yield than adding pine needles; different treatments have little effect on the average height of tomato fruit, but have a greater effect on the cross diameter of the fruit.

Multidimensional scaling analysis of sensory characteristics and quantitative traits inwild apricots

The Cappadocia Region in Central Anatolia, Turkey is rich in wild apricot genetic resources. In this study, a multivariate analysis method of metric and nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS) was used to classify 43 wild apricot genotypes and 5 standard cultivars by using Euclidean distance. MDS was applied, based on dissimilarities, to quantitative traits of weight, height, width and thickness of fruit, stone and kernel weight, flesh/stone ratio, total soluble solids content, titratable acidity and pH in fruit juice, and sensory attributes of fruit size and shape, cavity depth, suture (cheek line), fruit apex, fruit attractiveness, skin pubescence, ground and over color (blush), eating quality, aroma, firmness and juiciness of flesh, uniformity of ripening of fruit, flesh color and texture, skin cracking and pit burn susceptibility, separation of stone, stone size and shape (lateral view), stone surface and kernel taste. The results showed that most of the wild apricots (91.66%) had small sized fruits ranging from 10.5 g (type #53) to 79.3 g (type #68) with an average of 25.27 ± 2.44 g. The genotypes had fair or good eating quality and aroma, good fruit attractiveness and light bitter or sweet kernel taste in general. The harvest date showed quite a wide range between late June and early September among the genotypes. The sufficient number of dimensions was determined by stress value and pseudo-R2 statistics, then relative positions of genotypes were displayed on graphics. The Aprikoz was the most distinct cultivated apricot from the wild genotypes. Both MDS analyses revealed that most of the wild genotypes had similar fruit characteristics while genotypes of #13, #20, #39, #60, #64, #68 differed the most. The wild apricot individuals with interesting features could be used as a parent in apricot breeding programs for the development of commercial cultivars.

Effectiveness of the biodegradable product FitoBotryfun in improving the fruit quality of 'Čačanska Bestrna' blackberry

Blackberry (Rubus subgen. Rubus Watson) cultivar 'Čačanska Bestrna' has long been the most commonly grown blackberry cultivar in the Republic of Serbia, owing to its high adaptability to respective agro-environmental conditions. In recent years, in order to increase the production of biologically valuable food, the fruit growing technology has been directed towards the concepts of integral and organic production. Blackberry grey mould (Botrytis cinerea Pers.) is an economically significant agent of the disease, which during the ripening phase reduces fruit yield by about 30% each year. In this regard, the efficacy of the preventive and curative influence of foliar applied FitoBotryfun was examined for two consecutive years. Incidence of grey mould (degree of infection), morphometric traits (fruit weight and dimensions), chemical traits (soluble solids content, total and inverted sugars, and sucrose content) and fruit mineral nutrient content [macro-(Ca, Mg) and microelements (Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn)] were recorded. A high variability was found in the degree of infection between the different disease management practices (organic and conventional) and significant differences were found in the contents of sugars, Ca, Mg and Fe in the fruit. The variations over the years were observed for the same quality traits, except for fruit height. The results obtained suggest that the foliar application of FitoBotryfun during the growing season can be effective in reducing losses in the quality of blackberry fruit during ripening as well as negative effects of conventional control methods on human health and the environment.

Fruit and seed morphology in some representatives of the genus Malus Mill.

Aim. The study of morphological characteristics of fruits and seeds of the genus Malus is the key to the effective use of the apple genetic diversity in landscape-gardening, fruit growing, introductory and breeding. Methods. Morphological features of fruits and seeds of nine species and three varieties of apple (M. baccata, M. coronaria ‘Red Tip’, M. floribunda, M. fusca, M. halliana, M. niedzwetzkyana, M. × purpurea, M. × purpurea ‘Ola’, M. × purpurea ‘Royalty’, M. × purpurea ‘Selkirk’, M. trilobata, M. tschonoskii, M. toringoides) were studied. Generally accepted tech- niques of research was used. Results. The fruit weight of apple species and varieties varied from 0.30 g (M. fusca) to 61.20 g (M. coronaria ‘Red Tip’), the weight of 1000 seeds — from 5.00 g (M. fusca) to 62.77 g (M. coronaria ‘Red Tip’). The largest number of seeds in the fruit was characteristic of M. toringoides (6.64), the smallest — M. tschonoskii (0.25); developed seeds were not detected in the fruits of M. trilobata for 2019–2020 years. The lowest level of variability among biometric indicators of the studied representatives of the genus Malus was in terms of fruit height, fruit diameter and seed height, the highest — in terms fruit weight and number of seeds in the fruit. Conclusions. Detailed characteristics of fruits and seeds of the genus Malus, growing in the National Dendrological Park “Sofiyivka”, were compiled as a result of research. The obtained data can be used as a supplement to the botanical characteristic, and as a comparative material for taxonomy and phylogeny.

Growth and yield of pomato under the Syrian coastal mountains conditions

Abstract. The world has always been striving to increase and intensify agricultural production, and there are several attempts to acheive that, such as grafting tomato on potato to obtain two crops from one plant. This investigation was conducted during 2020 in open field in Nahl village, Baniyas, Tartous Governorate, Syria. The vegetative and generative growth and yield have been studied for pomato (grafted tomato on potato) and compared to each tomato and potato separately. Tomato plants were significantly superior in plant height to pomato plants after 23 days of planting until the end of the experiment. On the other hand, there were significant differences between tomato plants and pomato plants in the leaf area after 23, 51 and 65 days of planting. Also, tomato plants significantly outperformed pomato plants in the number of flowers and fruits per plant and the tomato fruit set percent. Anyway, tomato plants were significantly superior in the average yield of tomato fruits per plant (1657 g.plant-1) to pomato plants (185 g.plant-1), while there were insignificant differences in the average yield of potato tubers per plant between pomato which failed to produce tubers and potato (48.25 g.plant-1). Studying the tomato fruit fresh weight showed a significant superiority of tomato plants (54.37 g.fruit-1) to pomato plants (35.97 g.fruit-1), while there were insignificant differences in the other physical (tomato fruit height, diameter and shape index) and chemical (tomato fruit content of total acids, total soluble solids and dry matter, %) properties.

Synthesis and Characterization of a Mixed Nanofertilizer Influencing the Nutrient Use Efficiency, Productivity, and Nutritive Value of Tomato Fruits.

Due to the higher potential for enhancing nutrient use efficiency, nanofertilizer (NF) is crucial in sustainable crop production. Thus, foliar-applied mixed nanofertilizer (MNFf) and commercial fertilizer (CF) into the soil (CFs) were claimed together ([MNFf + CFs]) and comparative nutrient use efficiency (NUE), productivity, and nutritional properties of tomato fruits were investigated. The mixed nanofertilizer (MNF) was prepared in our laboratory and characterized using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared. To avoid the interference of other factors, all the treatments were divided into three groups: (i) blank treatment (no fertilizer), (ii) CF treatment, and (iii) combined [MNFf + CFs] treatment. The vegetative growth and qualitative and quantitative attributes of tomatoes were recorded, and the NUE, total production, and benefit–cost ratio (BCR) were also calculated. In addition, comparative nutritional properties for all treatments were analyzed. The plant’s height, stem diameter, root length, photosynthetic pigments, leaf minerals, and qualitative traits of tomato fruits were significantly (p < 0.05) increased by [MNFf + CFs] treatment compared to CFs. The protein, fiber, Fe, Zn, and K contents were significantly (p < 0.05) increased by 23.80, 38.10, 44.23, 60.01, and 2.39%, respectively, with the [MNFf + CFs] treatment as compared to CFs, while the ash and protein contents were both lower than the untreated tomato. Moreover, [MNFf + CFs] treatment has significantly (p < 0.05) increased the antioxidant properties. The NUE, total production, and BCR were also increased by 26.08, 26.04, and 25.38%, respectively, with the same treatment. Thus, [MNFf + CFs] treatment could be a potential alternative for reducing the excess use of CF.

Effect of Mulching and Spacing on the Yield Quality of Cabbage (Brassica Oleracea L), South West Nigeria

The experiment was conducted to examine the effects of mulching and spacing on yield quality of cabbage. The objectives were to determine the appropriate spacing for cabbage, know the effect of mulching on yield quality and measure the combine effect of mulching and spacing on yield of cabbage. The experiment was laid out in a 2 x 5 factorial in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The mulch materials used for the experiments were; black polyethene plastic mulch, gliricidia, Elephant grass, Sunflower, and No mulching (control) while the planting spacing used were (45cm x 45cm and 30 cm x 30 cm). Data collected was subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and means separation was done using Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at 5% probability level. Result obtained revealed that spacing at 45cm gave the best yield quality with fruit weight (114.36g), fruit height (26.47cm) and girth (48.13cm). Black polyethene (BP) gave the best yield fruit weight (1369.76g), fruit height (29.5cm) and girth (52.33cm). The combined effects of mulching and spacing revealed that combined effect of the factors do not have significant effect on the yield quality of cabbage. Based on the findings spacing of 45 by 45cm and black polyethene mulching materials were recommended for optimum yield quality of cabbage in the region.

Effects of Organic Manures and Npk on Growth and Protein Content of Okra (Abelmoschus Esculentus L. Moench)

Effects of organic manures and NPK fertilizers on okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) plants were evaluated in the net house of the Department of Soil, Water and Environment, University of Dhaka. The experiment was conducted in a randomized design replicated thrice with eighteen treatments involving eight organic manures along with NPK and without NPK fertilizers. Growth parameters viz. plant height, leaf number, leaf area and dry weight of root, stem, leaf and fruits were assessed. The highest height (132.5 cm), leaf number (21.5) and leaf area (412.09 cm2) were found in T9: Shebok 10 ton ha–1 treatment. The highest dry weight of a plant (40.6 g), number of fruits per plant (8) and dry weight of fruit per plant (3.71 g) were found in T11:N30P18K25 kg ha–1 plus ACI 5 ton ha–1 treatment. Maximum protein (25.37%) was achieved in T11, phosphorous (0.481 mg kg–1) in T14 and potassium (4.50 mg kg–1) in T13 treatment. Results varied significantly (p≤0.5). The overall best growth performance and protein content was observed in T9:Shebok 10 ton ha–1 and T11:N30P18K25 kg ha–1 plus ACI 5 ton ha–1 treatment, respectively. J. Biodivers. Conserv. Bioresour. Manag. 2020, 6(2): 83-88

Impact of Nitrogen Levels and Planting Density on the Growth and Yield of Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench)

The study was carried out to the effects of different plant densities and nitrogen levels on okra yield and plant development. Field trials were conducted in two locations, the training fields of the Ege University, Ödemiş Research and Training area, and Ege University Faculty of Agriculture, Menemen Research and Training Farm. The field layout was a split-plot design with 3 replicates, where main plots consisted of nitrogen applications and sub-plots of plant densities. Fertilizer was applied in the form of Triple Superphosphate, Potassium Sulfate, Urea and Ammonium Nitrate. Five different nitrogen levels (F1: 0, F2: 40, F3: 80; F4: 120 and F5: 160 kg N ha-1) and two different rows spacing (PD1: 15 cm×70 cm and PD2: 25 cm×70 cm) have been tested. Yield and yield components, plant height at flowering, height of the first fruits, the number of leaves, the number of branches, the number of days from sowing to first flowering, the number of days from sowing to first harvest, plant height, foliation status, total yield, yield of plant, average fruit weight, fruit length, fruit diameter have been noted in the field experiments. Total yield ranged from 5923.8 to 12888.9 kg ha-1 at the Ödemiş location, while it was 3363.3-5009.2 kg ha-1 at the Menemen location. In conclusion, the highest yield is taken from F2 in both plant densities in Ödemiş. In Menemen, the highest yield is taken from the dose of F3 (80 kg Nha-1) and F4 (120 kg Nha-1).

Genome-wide association study identifies QTL for eight fruit traits in cultivated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

Genome-wide association study (GWAS) is effective in identifying favorable alleles for traits of interest with high mapping resolution in crop species. In this study, we conducted GWAS to explore quantitative trait loci (QTL) for eight fruit traits using 162 tomato accessions with diverse genetic backgrounds. The eight traits included fruit weight, fruit width, fruit height, fruit shape index, pericarp thickness, locule number, fruit firmness, and brix. Phenotypic variations of these traits in the tomato collection were evaluated with three replicates in field trials over three years. We filtered 34,550 confident SNPs from the 51 K Axiom® tomato array based on < 10% of missing data and > 5% of minor allele frequency for association analysis. The 162 tomato accessions were divided into seven clusters and their membership coefficients were used to account for population structure along with a kinship matrix. To identify marker-trait associations (MTAs), four phenotypic data sets representing each of three years and combined were independently analyzed in the multilocus mixed model (MLMM). A total of 30 significant MTAs was detected over data sets for eight fruit traits at P < 0.0005. The number of MTA per trait ranged from one (brix) to seven (fruit weight and fruit width). Two SNP markers on chromosomes 1 and 2 were significantly associated with multiple traits, suggesting pleiotropic effects of QTL. Furthermore, 16 of 30 MTAs suggest potential novel QTL for eight fruit traits. These results facilitate genetic dissection of tomato fruit traits and provide a useful resource to develop molecular tools for improving fruit traits via marker-assisted selection and genomic selection in tomato breeding programs.

Growth parameters and organoleptic characteristics of plantain (Musa AAB Simmonds cv. Farta Velhaco) at different planting densities

In view of the role of density and spacing in the growth parameters and organoleptic characteristics of plantains, this study sought to identify the best planting density for the cultivar Farta Velhaco (Terra group) cultivated in Mato Grosso (Brazil), evaluating three spacings. For this, we carried out an experiment in a randomized block design according to the following spaces (between plants x between rows): 2.0 m x 3.0 m (density of 1,600 plants ha-1); 2.5 m x 3.0 m (density of 1,320 plants ha-1) and 3.0 m x 3.0 m (density of 1,110 plants ha-1), with 25 replicates per treatment. The following attributes were evaluated: plant height (cm); diameter of the pseudostem (cm); number of leaves; number of hands per bunch; number of fruits per hand; fresh fruit weight (g); fruit height (cm); external and internal fruit lengths (cm); fruit diameter (cm); bunch weight (kg), and productivity (t ha-1), in addition to the percentage of total soluble solids, titratable acidity, pH and flavor of the fruits. The density of 2.0 m x 3.0 m in the cultivation of the plantain group Terra cv. Farta Velhaco improves fruit classification attributes as well as the fruit organoleptic characteristics such as the percentage of total soluble solids and flavor.

Classical Food Quality Attributes and the Metabolic Profile of Cambuci, a Native Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest Fruit.

The cambuci is a native Brazilian fruit from the Atlantic Forest biome. A soft and astringent pulp, a green color, and a sweet aroma are its main characteristics. Classical food quality attributes (fresh fruit mass, fruit height, diameters, total soluble solid, titratable acidity, and ratio) and the metabolic profile from ten accessions from three different locations were analyzed herein by analytical methods (refractometry and neutralization titration) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Concerning sugar content, sucrose was the predominant compound, with glucose and fructose alternating in second, depending on the accession. Citric acid was the most relevant acid, followed by shikimic and quinic acids in quite variable amounts. These three main acids vary in amounts for each accession. Ascorbic acid content emerges as an important quality attribute and makes this fruit nutritionally attractive, due to values comparable to those contained in citric fruits. The main amino acids identified in cambuci were glutamic acid individually or in comprising the tripeptide glutathione (glutamic acid, cysteine, glycine). The quality diversity of the evaluated accessions suggests the potentiality of cambuci use in future breeding programs.

Luffa Gourd Production Practices from Transplanting and Direct Seeding Methods for Composite Productions

World is facing an increase of environmental concerns recently regarding on natural and synthetic fibers problems. Producing synthetic fibers may cost highly and create a few financial issues on the production matter. Moreover, synthetic fiber products have several disadvantages such as they are non-biodegradable. Some of them may cause health related problems and expose a significant risk. Researchers aimed to find the replacement for synthetic fibers with less cost production and renewable sources which lead to development of biomaterials-based composites production. Luffa is an eco-friendly crop, has been added as the new fibrous fruit with short harvest period. This study have applied a few practices using direct seeding and transplanting methods for low cost luffa production that aim for composites production. On the other hand, this study showed that transplanting (TP) method is better than direct seeding (DS) method based on the growth performance. TP method showed highest average of plant height (cm) and average total dry weight (g) of luffa fruits with 74.42±0.68 and 91.08±2.26 respectively whereas lower growth yield performance showed by DS method. Other parameters observed are the number of leaves and number of fruits which is a competent sources to the current composites sources, synthetic fibers. Hence, the results showed that luffa has the potential as a low cost and short harvest duration production plant.

Çiftlik Gübresi, Vermikompost ve Bitki Büyüme Düzenleyicilerinin Karpuz Meyvesinde Verim ve Meyve Kaliteye Etkileri

This study was conducted in 2018, under open field conditions in Adıyaman Province of Turkey to determine the effects of farm manure, vermicompost and plant growth regulators on yield and some fruit quality parameter of watermelon. Matured farm manure, vermicompost and three different plant growth regulators (Crop-Set, Endoroots and ISR-2000) were used to compare with control (not fertilizers applied) application. Vermicompost, farm manure, Endoroots, ISR-2000 and Crop-Set were applied to the plants at 150 kg, 2 tons, 250 g, 60 cc and 90 cc da-1 doses, respectively. The highest yield result was obtained from Endoroots application (11.630 tons da-1). Fruit weight varied between 2.93 (control) kg and 5.01 kg (vermicompost). Higher results were observed from vermicompost application for fruit weight, fruit width, fruit height, phenolic. Total Soluble Solids (TSS) was recorded statistically significant for Endoroots application. Applied plant growth regulators, farm manure and vermicompost fertilizers had significant effects on pomological and phenological characteristics of watermelon under semi-arid conditions. The highest results have been determined from Endoroots and vermicompost applications. As a result of this study, Endoroots (250 g da-1) and vermicompost (150 kg da-1) fertilizers can be concluded as a beneficial application for watermelon cultivation.