Fruit Position Research Articles

Polarized Readings of René Girard: Utilizing Girardian Thought to Break a Theological and Philosophical Impasse

René Girard’s work often seems suspect to liberals, because it appears as a totalizing narrative. Such hesitancy with respect to either dismissing or endorsing it follows from the demise of “grand narratives” that brought with them imperialistic and hegemonic tendencies. Yet if a liberal viewpoint does not embrace Girard, it is for different reasons that conservatives are either fully supportive of his thought as promising a return to religious values or hesitant about accepting his theories because they critique a form of violence inherent to any community. Girardian thought, it can be argued, has focused on deconstructing mythological justifications for violent activity at the expense of establishing a fruitful position regarding positive communal formations. The tensions between these juxtaposed liberal and conservative viewpoints, as taken up in this article, illustrate an impasse between deconstructivist-genealogists (representing trends within liberal discourse) and communitarians (representing conservative or orthodox viewpoints)—one that shows up in a variety of contexts today. Highlighting this particular standoff in interpretations of Girard can, nevertheless, yield important insights regarding the ultimate significance of his work.

Evaluation of Fruit Positions on Tree, Chilling Injury Sensitivity, and Antioxidant Enzyme Activities of (Mangifera indica L. 'Ewas’) Mangos during Cold Storage

Mango fruits have a high commercial income to being viewed as susceptible to chilling injury for the long storage duration. Fruits are stored at low temperatures many physiological changes that will demonstrate the side impacts of cold storage on fruits. The results are losing fruits and lower profits. The study aimed to find correlation between three fruit positions on the tree, i.e. sunny side (SUN; fruit exposed to the sun most of the day), shadow side (SHA; fruit grows on the shady side of trees), and inside the canopy (INS; fruit grows inside tree canopy), and cold storage stress (4 ± 1 °C and RH% 96%) for 35-days during two growing seasons (2015-2016). Obviously: the harvested fruit from INS presented more tolerance to chilled temperature compared to other fruit locations for 35 days. Through the results obtained the harvested fruit from INS showed significantly the highest activities of ascorbate peroxidase (APX), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) than other fruit locations. Reflecting the lack of chilling injury symptoms on fruits, unlike other fruit positions. In addition, contents of O2•- and H2O2 decreased in INS fruit throughout storage duration. Consequently, the cell membrane compositions were maintained, especially, low quantity in both malondialdehyde (MDA) and protein carbonyl group (PCG) throughout storage duration in days. These results pointed out that the fruit positions can be considered at harvesting for classifying of fruits before cold storage.

An automated fruit harvesting robot by using deep learning

Automation and labor saving in agriculture have been required recently. However, mechanization and robots for growing fruits have not been advanced. This study proposes a method of detecting fruits and automated harvesting using a robot arm. A highly fast and accurate method with a Single Shot MultiBox Detector is used herein to detect the position of fruit, and a stereo camera is used to detect the three-dimensional position. After calculating the angles of the joints at the detected position by inverse kinematics, the robot arm is moved to the target fruit’s position. The robot then harvests the fruit by twisting the hand axis. The experimental results showed that more than 90% of the fruits were detected. Moreover, the robot could harvest a fruit in 16 s.

Influences of plant density and fruit thinning on watermelon hybrid production cultivated in different seasons

ABSTRACT Brazilian watermelon productivity is not efficient when compared to the largest producer countries, due to abiotic and biotic factors. Some of the difficulties are because of a small number of studies on this crop in Brazil. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of plant density and fruit thinning on two commercial watermelon hybrids (Talisman and Youlie), using trials which were carried out in two different seasons (April - July and August - November). The experiment was conducted in Uberlândia-MG and consisted of two managements of fruit position (A-basal and B-distal) and four plant densities (3,000, 4,000, 5,000 and 6,000 plants/ha). In season 1, the distal management was the most productive in relation to all cultivation densities. The distal management shows higher productivity in both hybrids, with greater increase in mass, productivity and 0Brix content in hybrid Talisman, however with lower density, firmness and internal cavity compared to hybrid Youlie. Weather conditions determined the influence of fruit management on watermelon crop. Cultivation during the hottest period and with a better water supply (season 2), basal management (A) showed a performance similar to the distal management. At this time, hybrid Talisman surpassed hybrid Youlie concerning productivity, average mass, fruit density, firmness and internal cavity. In both seasons, higher densities are related to higher productivities. Hybrid Talisman showed higher productivity in cultivation from April to July (season 1) under distal fruit management.

Influence of seed position and mass in the fruit in sucupira's germination

Studies related to the understanding of several aspects influence the germination of seeds are essential for the development of protocols for germination and subsequent production of seedlings of native species. Thus, the aim was to study the influence of seed mass and its position in the germination of Bowdichia virgilioides Kunth. Fruits of B. virgilioides were collected directly from matrix trees and opened manually, the seeds being separated according to their position in the fruit (Proximal, 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5, 6 and 7 and distal). The number and mass of the seeds were counted according to the position in the pod. The germination tests was carried out in a completely randomized design, in a 2x7 factorial scheme, with two weight classes (<0.014g and > 0.014g) and seven fruit positions with 4 replicates of 25 seeds. The seed mass and the position of the seeds in B. virgilioides fruit influence the germination and post-seminal growth. Heavier seeds exhibit superior performance to slight in relation to germination and seedling growth. Seeds from the proximal position present germinative performance inferior to the other positions. For the composition of seed lots of B. virgilioides, intended for the production of seedlings, it is recommended that the seedlings be separated by mass and position in the fruits.

Fruit canopy position and crop load influence on watercore severity in ‘Fuji’ apples

Watercore (WC) is a physiological disorder related to carbohydrate metabolism in apple fruit. Late season WC typically develops as 'Fuji' fruit mature on the tree. WC affected fruit develop water-soaked tissue around the vascular bundles and/or fruit core when the intercellular spaces are filled with fluid. While mild symptoms dissipate in storage, severe WC can develop into internal browning with alcoholic off-flavours under controlled atmosphere storage conditions. Fruit position on the tree and crop load are factors associated with WC incidence. In 2015, at the KOB experimental orchard in southwest Germany, late-harvest 'Fuji' apples with a high incidence of WC (93%) were harvested in a single pick from three different positions within the tree canopy (top/middle/bottom) and from trees with two different crop loads (high = full crop but not over cropped or low = ~54% thinned at 67 d before harvest). At-harvest, the fruit weight, fruit density and severity of WC (scale 0 to 5; 0 = no WC to 5 = severe) were determined for all apples per tree. Fruit from low crop load trees showed higher WC compared to high crop load trees. Fruit from the top of high crop load treatment showed a trend to higher WC when compared with fruit from the bottom. Sorbitol was higher in fruit from the low crop load treatment. Comparing the leaf area per fruit with the WC severity suggests, WC development is regulated by other factors in addition to the assimilate supply.

U.S. mango performance benchmark

Retail data are important for mango performance benchmarking because it allows one to compare years and observe trends. Mango sales data from US grocery store chains with more than $ 2 million in annual sales was collected and analyzed in 2014 and 2015. Data came from approximately 18,000 stores nationwide and represented fruit items sold in the produce department. A descriptive analysis of mango performance (volume, price, and sales) store‑1 week‑1 was conducted per region, quarter and year. Volume was measured by unit (one whole mango=one unit), price in dollars ($) per mango unit, and sales in $. Overall, retail fruit sales increased 3% in 2015. Mango sales store‑1 week‑1 increased 6% and mango contribution to the produce department increased slightly, maintaining the same position (#20) in fruit sales ranking, as in 2014. Mango volume store‑1 week‑1 increased 16% to 213 units after a decline of 13% in 2014, and the mango retail price decreased 8% to $ 0.98 each. In 2015, most sub-regions experienced mango increases in dollars and volume. The East North Central sub-region had the largest dollar increase, (13% to $ 173 mango dollars store‑1 week‑1), and the West South Central sub-region had the largest mango dollar contribution to department sales at 0.52%, up from 0.47% in 2014. The highest sub-regions, based on volume store‑1 week‑1, were West South Central, Pacific, New England and Mountain. East North Central was the sub-region with the greatest growth in volume with a 43% increase. All sub-regions except Pacific had a decline in average mango price. The West South Central sub-region had the lowest average retail price at $ 0.76 each and the Mid Atlantic sub-region had the highest average retail price at $ 1.22 per mango.

Salinity stress in cotton: effects, mechanism of tolerance and its management strategies.

Cotton is classified as moderately salt tolerant crop with salinity threshold level of 7.7dSm-1. Salinity is a serious threat for cotton growth, yield and fiber quality. The sensitivity to salt stress depends upon growth stage and type of salt. Understanding of cotton response to salinity, its resistance mechanism and looking into management techniques may assist in formulating strategies to improve cotton performance under saline condition. The studies have showed that germination, emergence and seedling stages are more sensitive to salinity stress as compared to later stages. Salt stress results in delayed flowering, less fruiting positions, fruit shedding and reduced boll weight which ultimately affect seed cotton yield. Depressed activities of metabolic enzymes viz: acidic invertase, alkaline invertase and sucrose phophate synthase lead to fiber quality deterioration in salinity. Excessive sodium exclusion or its compartmentation is the main adaptive mechanism in cotton under salt stress. Up regulation of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants genes offer important adaptive potential to develop salt tolerant cotton varieties. Seed priming is also an effective approach for improving cotton germination in saline soils. Intra and inter variation in cotton germplasm could be used to develop salt tolerant varieties with the aid of marker assisted selection. Furthermore, transgenic approach could be the promising option for enhancing cotton production under saline condition. It is suggested that future research may be carried out with the combination of conventional and advance molecular technology to develop salt tolerant cultivars.

Mango Fruit Load Estimation Using a Video Based MangoYOLO-Kalman Filter-Hungarian Algorithm Method.

Pre-harvest fruit yield estimation is useful to guide harvesting and marketing resourcing, but machine vision estimates based on a single view from each side of the tree (“dual-view”) underestimates the fruit yield as fruit can be hidden from view. A method is proposed involving deep learning, Kalman filter, and Hungarian algorithm for on-tree mango fruit detection, tracking, and counting from 10 frame-per-second videos captured of trees from a platform moving along the inter row at 5 km/h. The deep learning based mango fruit detection algorithm, MangoYOLO, was used to detect fruit in each frame. The Hungarian algorithm was used to correlate fruit between neighbouring frames, with the improvement of enabling multiple-to-one assignment. The Kalman filter was used to predict the position of fruit in following frames, to avoid multiple counts of a single fruit that is obscured or otherwise not detected with a frame series. A “borrow” concept was added to the Kalman filter to predict fruit position when its precise prediction model was absent, by borrowing the horizontal and vertical speed from neighbouring fruit. By comparison with human count for a video with 110 frames and 192 (human count) fruit, the method produced 9.9% double counts and 7.3% missing count errors, resulting in around 2.6% over count. In another test, a video (of 1162 frames, with 42 images centred on the tree trunk) was acquired of both sides of a row of 21 trees, for which the harvest fruit count was 3286 (i.e., average of 156 fruit/tree). The trees had thick canopies, such that the proportion of fruit hidden from view from any given perspective was high. The proposed method recorded 2050 fruit (62% of harvest) with a bias corrected Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) = 18.0 fruit/tree while the dual-view image method (also using MangoYOLO) recorded 1322 fruit (40%) with a bias corrected RMSE = 21.7 fruit/tree. The video tracking system is recommended over the dual-view imaging system for mango orchard fruit count.

A comparative study of mango solar drying methods by visible and near-infrared spectroscopy coupled with ANOVA-simultaneous component analysis (ASCA)

The effect of mango solar drying methods (traditional and tunnel dryers) on the quality of dried mango slices was investigated by visible (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy combined with the chemometric analysis methods of principal component analysis (PCA) and ANOVA-simultaneous component analysis (ASCA). Five batches of mango were investigated, each subjected to two/three different positions of three different types of dryers: electrical (reference), traditional, and tunnel dryers. The results of the visible and near-infrared spectra showed that the quality of the mango samples obtained from the electrical dryer (reference method) was the most uniform and conserved the highest content of carotenoids and chlorophyll pigments. The samples from the traditional dryer had the highest variation and content of residual water. ASCA analysis of visible and shortwave near-infrared (VIS-NIR) (including color information) showed that the batch effect was most dominant with a significance effect of 47.5%, whereas longwave near-infrared (NIR) spectra (chemistry) showed that the dryer effect was the most dominant with a significance effect of 38.3%. The factor of the fruit positions in the dryers proved not to be significant. The VIS-NIR spectrum is thus well adapted to measure the fruit maturity and the NIR spectrum has great potential to investigate and control the dryer performance. The latter clearly demonstrated that the tunnel dryer provides much more gentle and consistent drying process compared to the traditional dryer. In contrast, the samples from the traditional dryer showed chemical changes/decomposition.

Effect of Mechanical Loads on Guava Quality at Handling

This study examined the mechanical loads of guava fruits under different loading conditions at different times. The approach will help in predicting the type and magnitude injuries, which will help in minimum losses and assessment of guava quality.It has also a significant influence on handling, sorting, storage and processing. Some physical, chemical and mechanical properties of common Egyptian guava variety (Mamora) relevant to the material handling were analyzed. The following properties were considered: dimensional size, mass, measured and calculated volumes, real density and sugar content. Mechanical tests (puncture and compression) were also considered. The rupture load, rupture deformation and the work done (energy) that caused the rupture of the fruit were determined. The maximum force and stress levels for both puncture and compression were greatest at the start of maturity stage compared with subsequent maturity stages. At any fruit position and as the stage of fruit maturity increases from start to near the final stage, a gradual decrease in the yield force and yield stress was obtained, while, the damaged area and deformation increased.During packing and handling guava and based on the above information it may be recommended, to lay the fruits on the major diameter axis position, so as it experiences less deformation under loads. It was possible to introduce a factor of safety that may be used in determining the number of fruits in a vertical load for packaging guava fruits in containers and transporting them. Based on this concept, the maximum number allowable of fruit rows inside a container should be three rows, so as to avoid bruising during fruits packaging and handling. Packing was the first step to keep the fruit quality and reduce the handling losses. Further investigations should be done to evaluate and test package type, size, and loading height during storage and transportation.

Effect of crop load, fruit position and shoot vigour on yield and quality of Annona atemoya × Annona squamosa in India

ABSTRACT The effect of crop load, position of the fruit on the shoots and vigour of the shoots on yield and quality of Annona atemoya × A. squamosa hybrid ‘Arka Sahan’ was investigated in India over two years. The trees were hand-pollinated and thinned to 20, 40, 60, 80 or 100 fruit after fruit set. Information was collected on total and marketable yield, yield efficiency, average fruit fresh weight, peel weight, the number of seeds per 100 g of pulp, pulp content in the fruit, total soluble solids (TSS) and total titratable acidity. In other experiments, fruit were harvested from weak, medium or vigrous shoots, or from basal, middle or apical nodes. Total yield increased up to 60 or 80 fruit per tree and marketable yield increased up to 60 fruit per tree. Average fruit weight and peel weight increased as cropping increased. These results suggest that optimum productivity and quality is associated with 60 fruit per tree or 0.17 to 0.19 kg cm2 trunk-cross sectional area. The quality of the fruit in different positions on the shoots or on the different types of shoots was highly variable and generally not affected by the various treatments.

Perceptual characterisation for quality assessment of jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) in Terai districts of West Bengal

India is the second largest producer in the world and considered as the native of seasonal and tropical evergreen jackfruit (Artocarpus hetesophyllus L.) tree. Each and every village of North Bengal, have various types of jackfruit plants which needs to be known for their characteristics. Data were gathered from 60 jackfruit farmers of five villages of Cooch Behar and Alipurduar district through a structured interview schedule. The characteristics of jackfruit plant were assessed through IPGRI descriptor. The results showed that the jackfruit trees of North Bengal were dominated by irregular crown (40.32) and branch shape (39.24) with narrowly elliptical leaf blade shape (51.08), but broadly pyramidal crown shape and ellipsoid flake shape produced best quality vegetable as well as ripe fruit; whereas clavate fruit shape for vegetable and ellipsoid fruit shape for fruit was perceived best. The quality was assessed through matrix ranking of different parameters by group of farmers. On the basis of crown shape, most respondents preferred broadly pyramidal shape tree, acuminate leaf apex, ellipsoid fruit shape, cordate flake shape, yellow flake colour, ellipsoid seed shape and fruit position on the stem. Farmers opined middle time as best production time of jackfruit and pyramidal shape tree as best shape. Broadly elliptical leaf shape, acuminate leaf apex, obtuse apex shape and clavate fruit shape were the most preferred morphological characteristics. Although the farmers are the best evaluator but a scientific level evaluation is recommended for validation of the parameters for universal use.

FTIR-DRIFTS-based prediction of β-carotene, α-tocopherol and l-ascorbic acid in mango (Mangifera indica L.) fruit pulp

Mango fruits contain substantial vitamins and dietary fibre. Vitamins vary among and within fruits depending on cultivar type and ripening stage. Conventional techniques of vitamins analysis are based on High Pressure Liquid Chromatography, which are costly and laborious. This study evaluated the potential of Fourier transform infrared-diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (FTIR-DRIFTS) technique in predicting β-carotene, α-tocopherol and l-ascorbic acid in pulps of four mango cultivar types (‘Apple’, ‘Kent’, ‘Ngowe’, and ‘Tommy Atkins’). Combination of ran dom forest (RF) and first derivative spectra developed the predictive models. Factorial ANOVA examined the interaction effect of cultivar type, site (‘Thika’, ‘Embu’ and ‘Machakos), and fruit canopy position (sun exposed/within crown) on β-carotene, α-tocopherol and l-ascorbic acid contents. RF Models gave R2 = 0.97, RMSE = 2.27, RPD = 0.72 for β-carotene; R2 = 0.98, RMSE = 0.26, RPD = 0.30 for α-tocopherol and R2 = 0.96, RMSE = 0.51, RPD = 1.96 for l-ascorbic acid. Generally cultivar type affected vitamin C, F (3, 282) = 7.812, p < 0.05. Apple and Tommy Atkins had higher mean vitamins than Ngowe and Kent. In Machakos, within canopy fruits had higher β-carotene than sun-exposed fruits, F (5, 257) = 2.328, p = 0.043. However, interactions between fruit position, site and cultivar did not affect α-tocopherol and vitamin C. In Thika, Tommy Atkins at fully ripe stage had higher vitamin C than at intermediate maturity stage, F (2, 143) = 7.328, p = 0.01. These results show that FTIR-DRIFTS spectroscopy is a high-throughput method that can be used to predict mango fruit vitamins of in a large data set.

Dynamic Analysis of Photosynthate Translocation Into Strawberry Fruits Using Non-invasive 11C-Labeling Supported With Conventional Destructive Measurements Using 13C-Labeling.

In protected strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) cultivation, environmental control based on the process of photosynthate translocation is essential for optimizing fruit quality and yield, because the process of photosynthate translocation directly affects dry matter partitioning. We visualized photosynthate translocation to strawberry fruits non-invasively with 11CO2 and a positron-emitting tracer imaging system (PETIS). We used PETIS to evaluate real-time dynamics of 11C-labeled photosynthate translocation from a 11CO2-fed leaf, which was immediately below the inflorescence, to individual fruits on an inflorescence in intact plant. Serial photosynthate translocation images and animations obtained by PETIS verified that the 11C-photosynthates from the source leaf reached the sink fruit within 1 h but did not accumulate homogeneously within a fruit. The quantity of photosynthate translocation as represented by 11C radioactivity varied among individual fruits and their positions on the inflorescence. Photosynthate translocation rates to secondary fruit were faster than those to primary or tertiary fruits, even though the translocation pathway from leaf to fruit was the longest for the secondary fruit. Moreover, the secondary fruit was 25% smaller than the primary fruit. Sink activity (11C radioactivity/dry weight [DW]) of the secondary fruit was higher than those of the primary and tertiary fruits. These relative differences in sink activity levels among the three fruit positions were also confirmed by 13C tracer measurement. Photosynthate translocation rates in the pedicels might be dependent on the sink strength of the adjoining fruits. The present study established 11C-photosynthate arrival times to the sink fruits and demonstrated that the translocated material does not uniformly accumulate within a fruit. The actual quantities of translocated photosynthates from a specific leaf differed among individual fruits on the same inflorescence. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported observation of real-time translocation to individual fruits in an intact strawberry plant using 11C-radioactive- and 13C-stable-isotope analyses.

A Detection Method for Apple Fruits Based on Color and Shape Features

The skins of most mature apple fruits are incompletely red and also include green and pale yellow color, which increases the difficulty of fruit detection by machine vision. A detection method based on color and shape features is proposed for this kind of apple fruits. Simple linear iterative clustering (SLIC) is adapted to segment images taken in orchards into super-pixel blocks. The color feature extracted from blocks is used to determine candidate regions, which can filter a large proportion of non-fruit blocks and improve detection precision. Next, the histogram of oriented gradient (HOG) is adopted to describe the shape of fruits, which is applied to detect fruits in candidate regions and locate the position of fruits further. The proposed method was tested by images taken under different illuminations. The average values of recall, precision, and F1 reach 89.80%, 95.12%, and 92.38% respectively. The performance of detecting fruits covered at different levels is also tested. The values of the recall are all more than 85%, which indicates that proposed method can detect a great part of covered fruits. Compared with pedestrian detection method and faster region-based convolutional neural network (RCNN), the proposed method has the best performance and higher than faster RCNN slightly. However, the proposed method is not robust to noise and its elapsed time of one image is 1.94 s and less than faster RCNN.

Factors affecting human hand grasp type in tomato fruit-picking: A statistical investigation for ergonomic development of harvesting robot

The aim of this study is to investigate the factors that affect the human hand grasp type in tomato fruit picking. The correlation between the parameters of the growing environment, fruit size, human body characteristics and choice of grasp type was investigated using a multinomial logistic regression analysis. In tomato fruit-picking, Power palm-Thumb abduction was the most frequently used grasp type, followed by Power palm-Thumb adduction, Power pad-Thumb abduction and Pinch. The plant posture and position of fruits in a tomato plant had no significant effect on the choice of the grasp type during tomato picking (p > 0.05). On the other hand, the major diameter of the fruit, right-hand length, forearm length, middle-finger length, and stature (participant height) had significant contributions on the choice of the grasp type (p < 0.05). With other independent variables unchanged, the probability that Power palm-Thumb abduction was chosen for picking was higher than those of Power pad-Thumb abduction and Pinch when the major diameter of fruits were 1 mm longer; when both the stature and forearm length of participants were 1 cm longer, the corresponding probability that Power palm-Thumb abduction was chosen for picking was higher than those of Power pad-Thumb abduction and Power palm-Thumb adduction, respectively; when both the hand length and middle-finger length of participants were 1 mm longer, the corresponding probability that Power palm-Thumb adduction and Pinch, respectively, were chosen for picking was higher than that of Power palm-Thumb abduction. This study provided an in-depth scientific guidance for dimensional synthesis of fruit-harvesting robots as well as in making grasp planning algorithms for intelligent picking of multi-finger end-effectors from the viewpoint of ergonomics.

Variability in space and time: contrasting fruit distribution patterns in the deceptive orchid Orchis militaris

In angiosperms, a decrease in fruit production towards the apex of individual inflorescences is usually observed. Orchids are thought to be primarily pollination-limited species, and non-uniform pollination could cause this decrease pattern in several species. Fruit production was investigated in relation to flower position and floral display size in Orchis militaris (Orchidaceae), a deceptive species. Over 2years, eight populations of O.militaris were studied and fruit position along the inflorescence was recorded. Generalised linear models were performed to examine the effect of population, year, flower position and floral display size on fruit production. The dominant pattern was characterised by a higher fruit set in the middle part of the inflorescence (parabolic pattern). A non-directional pattern of fruit production was also detected in some populations. Within a given population, patterns were generally consistent among years. In one of the two study years and in one of the eight populations specifically, the proximal-to-distal decrease in fruit production was dramatic in plants with a large floral display but weak or absent in small displays. Our study demonstrates the intraspecific diversity of fruit distribution patterns in O.militaris. Non-uniform pollination along the inflorescence is likely to be responsible for the parabolic pattern, while irregular visitation could explain the non-directional pattern of fruit production. Pattern variation among years and between populations could arise from spatiotemporal variation in pollinator assemblages. Resource competition effects could explain the interaction effect between display size and flower position.

English

Solanum aethiopicum Shum group is a nutrient-rich and income-generating crop enterprise in various sub-Saharan Africa countries. Despite its importance, the development of its improved varieties has not been prioritized. Until now, no field-based descriptor development reference for the crop is available for testing candidate varieties for distinctiveness, uniformity and stability. The purpose of this study is to identify morphological variables that provide identity of S. aethiopicum Shum group accessions across environments. With ten accessions across three test locations, it was observed that the highly polymorphic morphological variables were majorly vegetative and a few reproductive ones. They include plant height at flowering, plant canopy breadth, plant branching, petiole color, petiole length, leaf blade length, leaf blade width, leaf lobbing, leaf tip angle, flowering time, style length, fruit position, fruit flesh density, fruits per inflorescence and fruit flavor. A static stability analysis, a common selection technique for obtaining consistence in performance of genotypes, showed that accessions varied in their interaction with environments for different descriptors. The most statically stable accessions were 184P and 163P while the least stables were 168P, 148, 141, and 137. The findings indicate the potential for identifying unique and stable varieties of S. aethiopicum Shum group for the processing of official release to farmers. Key words: Polymorphic morphological markers; static stability coefficient; field characterization; Solanum aethiopicum Shum; genotype by environment interaction.

Morphometry and Physiological Quality of Moringa oleifera Seeds in the Function of Their Fruit Position

Seed selection as a function of their position in the fruit and its biometric characteristics has been widely used in multiplying several plant species, since these factors may be related to their physiological quality. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of the position that the seeds occupy in the fruits on the morphometry and the physiological quality of moringa seeds. The fruits were analyzed for their biometric characteristics and divided into three regions, called apical, medial and basal, proceeding to separate the seeds considering their position in the fruits. Three seeds were collected from each fruit region with 200 seeds each, and digital morphometry was evaluated using ImageJ ® and physiological quality. Four replicates of 50 seeds obtained in Original Research Article Noronha et al.; JEAI, 25(6): 1-10, 2018; Article no.JEAI.43375 2 each region of the fruit were used in a completely randomized design. Data were submitted to ANOVA and the means comparison of the variables was performed by the Tukey test at 5% probability. In the morphometry analysis, a statistical difference for the variables of weight, area, diameter, length, perimeter and circularity was observed. For the physiological quality, it was observed that the germination and vigor tests separated the seeds at two levels, except for the epicotyl/radicle length, which presented higher accuracy. Moringa fruit and seeds presented morphometric variation, where the seeds of the basal region were larger and heavier, while the seeds of the medial and basal regions presented greater germination and vigor than those of the apical part.