Fruit Production Quality Research Articles

Quality fruit production of tomato through integration of organic and inorganic nutrition: a review

Vegetables can make a significant difference to the livelihood of marginal farmers. Vegetable production needs only a small area of land with minimal capital outlay and can provide access to a valuable food under subsistence conditions; but also has the potential to provide an initial step towards establishing an income base for poorer households. Tomato is universally treated as protective food and is a very good source of income to small and marginal farmers and contributes to the nutrition of the consumers. Integrated nutrient management (INM) integrates the use of all natural and man-made sources of plant nutrients so that productivity and nutrient status of food increases in an efficient and environmentally benefiting manner without sacrificing soil productivity of future generations. Quality fruit production of tomato can be done through integration of organic nutrition (farmyard manure, vermicompost, green manuring) and inorganic fertilizers. In this background, this review deals with the integration of organic and inorganic nutrition to produce quality fruit yield in tomato.

Awareness and adoption level of improved practices by pear growers of Tarn Taran district

Pear is one of the most important fruit crops of the temperate region. In Punjab, a low chill variety Patharnakh, has been widely cultivated and become the commercial fruit crop. The present investigation was conducted to assess the awareness and adoption of recommended pear production practices to narrow the adoption gaps so as to achieve sustainable production of quality fruits in Tarn Taran District to evaluate the effect of different technology variables on the awareness score and adoption level of recommended package of practices for pear. The study showed that the respondents along with awareness adopted some of the recommended practices for pear cultivation on priority such as timely irrigation to the plants (As = 1.0; Al =2.6), use of FYM along with chemical fertilizers and timely pruning and training of the fruit plants having good awareness and adoption values. However, they were moderate in terms of weed management (As = 0.58; Al =1.26) and practice of proper packaging and marketing of fruits (As = 0.56; Al =1.20). On the other side, management of mite (As = 0.06; Al =0.10) followed by use of micronutrients as balanced nutrition (As = 0.10; Al =0.22), use of Bordeaux mixture for sap wood and root rot and use of potassium nitrate (KNO3) for better yield were practices with least awareness and adoption values. The results indicated that, a mere awareness of technology does not lead to adoption. This gap can be bridged by imparting practical know-how with hands-on training to pear growers in niche area.

MATING DISRUPTION OF GRAPHOLITA MOLESTA BUSCK. TO IMPROVE QUALITY AND HEALTHY OF PEACH FRUITS

In Bulgarian fruit growing agriculture mainly chemical plant protection is applied. Applications with organophosphates and pyrethroids are carried out to control the economically most important peach pest - the oriental fruit moth (Grapholita molesta Busck.). Annually during the vegetation season 7-8 insecticide treatments are applied. This leads to contamination of fruit products and the environment, which is a prerequisite for seeking other approaches. Regarding to fruit moth, sex pheromones are one of the most widely used environmental control methods, but they are most commonly used in apples. Their introduction in the monitoring of the main peach pest can lead to a reduction of chemical treatments and production with less pesticide residues. A promising direction is the use of pheromones to control the pests through sexual disorientation of males. The trial of mating disruption in the present study were carried out with ISOMATE® OFM TT dispensers in 0.9 ha peach orchard in 2020 and 2021. Pheromone traps type "Delta" of the Hungarian company CSALOMON® were used. The ISOMATE OFM TT dispensers, installed before the first flight of OFM at the rate of 250 units per ha, efficiently reduced fruit damages - down to 0.1-0.2% at harvest. In the reference orchard with 6 insecticide treatment against OFM, the damages reached 3.0-3.6%. The results indicate that mating disruption for control of Grapholita molesta Busck. can be used in production of quality and healthy peach fruits.

Understanding Phenological Stages of Pomegranates vis-à-vis Flowering and Fruiting Regulation

Abstract A thorough understanding of plant behavior at different growth stages is of paramount importance for fruit quality improvement, the regulation of production periods, and reduced fruit production costs. There are as many as three waves of flowering in evergreen pomegranate cultivars – i.e., during the spring, rainy, and autumn seasons. However, for securing enhanced production of superior quality fruits as well as profit to the growers, crop regulation is required. This can be achieved by forcing the tree to rest at a particular stage and by producing abundant blossoming and quality fruits during any one of the three flushes. Observations on phenological phases would help in understanding the dates of specific stages of crop development, which in turn enable the growers to plan, organize, and carry out timely schedules of agronomic practices such as irrigation, fertilization, and crop protection. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the response of pomegranate under different environmental conditions to identify a suitable flowering season to produce a better quality of fruits with consistent yield, and to enable standardization of management practices for optimum production based on phenological stages.

Nutritional status of cherry tomato with omission of macronutrients

Aspects related to tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) mineral nutrition are important for the production of quality fruits. The cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme) is an alternative for most producers due to its high market value, greater productivity and good acceptance by consumers. The objective with this study was to evaluate the nutritional status of cherry tomatoes cultivated in nutrient solution under omission of macronutrients. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design, with seven treatments: complete nutrient solution and omissions of N, P, K, Ca, Mg and S, with five replicates. Visible symptoms of nutritional deficiency were observed in the following order of omission: at 5, 12 and 20 days after transplantation in plants under omission of N, P and K, respectively. Conversely, there were no visible symptoms of deficiency under omissions of Ca, Mg and S. The sequence of growth limitation, determined based on the shoot dry mass of cherry tomato plants, was: N>P>S>Mg>Ca>K. The omission of a nutrient, besides reducing its content in the leaf tissue, causes imbalance between the other nutrients, influencing the parameters of growth and production, leading to morphological manifestations in cherry tomato.

Deficit Irrigation-Nutrient Coupling on Growth, Yield, Fruit Quality and Water Use Efficiency of Indian Jujube

Sustainability of quality fruit production in Indian jujube is adversely affected by improper irrigation and nutrient management. A field study comprising of four irrigation levels (drip irrigation at 0.8, 0.6 and 0.4 of pan evaporation (E0) and surface irrigation at 1.0 IW/CPE with 50 mm depth) and three nutrient levels (100% RDF, 75% RDF+25% RDF as vermicompost and 50% RDF+50% RDF as vermicompost) was conducted during 2018-19 (11 months) on jujube plant. Results showed that tallest tree (3.72 m), greatest tree circumference (0.32 m), maximum fruits tree-1 (563), highest fruit weight (15.5 g) and fruit yield tree-1 (8.42 kg) were recorded with drip irrigation at 0.8 E0 with 100% RDF. Minimum growth, yield components and yield were found with drip irrigation at 0.4 E0 with 50% RDF+50% RDF as vermicompost. Seasonal ETa was 373.6, 409.4 and 446.4 mm for drip irrigation at 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 E0, respectively and 694 mm for surface irrigation. Maximum CWUE of 18.87 g tree-1 mm-1 was obtained with drip irrigation at 0.8 E0 with 100% RDF. About 55.7-75.5% water was saved by drip irrigations which could bring an additional area of 55.5-85.8% under drip irrigated jujube. Highest predicted yield of 9.02 kg tree-1 was accomplished with 278 mm irrigation water. This model approach could serve as a good guideline to yield potential decision in relation to limited irrigation water for jujube growers in the Indo-Gangetic plains or similar agro-climatic regions.

Gibberellic Acid and Boron Enhance Antioxidant Activity, Phenolic Content, and Yield Quality in Pyrus Communis L.

Foliar application of micronutrients and plant growth regulators (PGRs) is one of the strategies of plant-feeding direct through leaves to allow rapid uptake irrespective of soil condition. This is the best way to enhance nutrient balance and its accumulation in the crops that, in turn, lead to improved crop yield and quality. This research studied the effect of boron (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 ppm) and gibberellic acid (GA3; 0, 20, 40, and 60 ppm) on quality fruit production of pear. Fruit weight, yield (kg/tree), minimum fruit drop (%) and disease incidence (%) were significantly enhanced in fruit sprayed with 75 ppm boron while fruit firmness (kg/cm), total soluble solids (° Brix), fruit juice pH, ascorbic acid content, and minimum titratable acidity (%) significantly increased in pear fruit sprayed with 100 ppm boron. The highest contents of phenols, flavonoids, and antioxidants (%) were observed in pear fruit sprayed with 100 ppm of boron and 60 ppm of GA3. Maximum fruit firmness, total soluble solids (° Brix), fruit juice pH, ascorbic acid with minimum titratable acidity (%) were recorded in plants sprayed with 60 ppm GA3. Boron (100 ppm) and GA3 (60 ppm) could be applied at the fruit set stage to obtain the quality fruit production of pear.

On-the-tree fruit bagging: A safe approach for production of quality fruits

During production, fruits undergo several changes. Fruits are also infested by several insect-pests, diseases and birds which reduce their commercial value and thereby cause a significant reduction in yield, quality and returns. To prevent such losses, scientists have developed several good agricultural practices (GAP) which have become quite popular globally for the production of high quality fruits. Among such practices, on-the-tree fruit bagging has emerged as one of the most effective approaches world-wide recently. In this technique, individual fruit or fruit bunch is covered by a bag while attached to the tree. On-the-tree fruit bagging technique has been reported to have several beneficial effects on fruit colour, texture, incidence of several insect-pests, diseases and quality, as a result, it has become an integral part of production technology of apple, pear, peach, grape and loquat in several developed countries. The desirable benefits of fruit bagging may be due to the type of bag used, date and duration of bagging, the stage of fruit development, the duration of fruit exposure to natural light following bag removal, and/or fruit- and cultivar-specific responses. On-the-tree fruit bagging is a simple, grower and eco-friendly approach which has become an integral part of organic fruit production in some parts of the world yet it has to be popularized in India.

Implication of Urochloa spp. Intercropping and Conservation Agriculture on Soil Microbiological Quality and Yield of Tahiti Acid Lime in Long Term Orchard Experiment

Techniques such as intercropping and minimum tillage improve soil quality, including soil microbial activity, which stimulates the efficient use of soil resources by plants. However, the effects of such practices in soil under citrus orchards have not been well characterized. In this study, we aimed to determine the effects of mowing and intercrop species on soil microbiological characteristics beneath a Tahiti acid lime orchard. The orchard was planted using minimum tillage and intercropped with two species of Urochloa species (U. ruziziensis—ruzi grass; U. decumbens—signal grass), with two types of mowers for Urochloa biomass (ecological; conventional) and herbicide applications. The study was conducted over 10 years. The ecological mower made the largest deposition of the intercrop biomass, thus providing the lowest disturbance of soil microbial activity and increasing, on average over all 10 years, the basal soil respiration (45%), microbial biomass carbon (25%), abundance of 16S rRNA (1.5%) and ITS (3.5%) genes, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (30%), and providing a ca. 20% higher fruit yield. U. ruziziensis in combination with ecological mowing stimulated the abundance of the genes nifH (1.5%) and phoD (3.0%). The herbicide showed little influence. We conclude that the use of U. ruziziensis as an intercrop in citrus orchards subjected to ecological mowing can be recommended for improving and sustaining soil quality and citrus fruit production.

Multiclass classification of nutrients deficiency of apple using deep neural network

Agriculture industry is the foundation of Indian economy where quality fruit production plays an important role. Apple or pome fruits are always in demand because of rich nutrients in it. Hence, to analyze and recognize the nutrients deficiency in fruits, a deep neural-based model is being proposed. This model automatically classifies and recognizes the type of deficiency present in apple. In this paper, a database has been created for four major types of nutrients deficiency in apples and used for training and validation of the proposed deep convolutional network. The model is tuned with k-fold cross-validation. The hyper-parameters such as epoch are set at 100 and batch size kept at 5. Finally, the model is tested with the testing data and achieved an average accuracy of 98.24% with k-fold cross-validation set to 15. The model accuracy depends on the hyper-parameters. The process of features optimization reduces the risk of overfitting of the model. Hence, careful selection of hyper-parameters is important for the convergence of cost function to the global minima that results in minimum misclassification.

Studies on environmental parameters, energy requirement and techno-economics of capsicum grown under greenhouse

An experiment was conducted during winter season in a semi-cylindrical greenhouse of size 4m x 25m for cultivation of capsicum at Bhubaneswar in coastal Odisha, India. Greenhouse was effective in raising the temperature during cold night period inside the greenhouse thereby creating a better microclimate for production of higher yield and quality fruits than open field cultivation. The growth and yield of capsicum was better under greenhouse than open field cultivation. The yield of capsicum per sq. m. inside the greenhouse was 2.17 times more over open field condition. The study indicates that the input energy per unit of capsicum produce is 3.38 MJ/kg under open field condition and 4.1 MJ/kg under greenhouse cultivation. The higher energy requirement for greenhouse cultivation is mainly due to the framed structure and the glazing materials used in the greenhouse. The assessment of input energy establishes the priorities for input energy optimization. The greenhouse was evaluated in terms of its techno-economic analysis, which was carried out by using different economic indicators such as Net Present Value, Benefit Cost Ratio, Internal Rate of Return and Pay Back Period and compared with open field cultivation. The net present value of investment made on greenhouse for cultivation of capsicum was Rs.119110 as compared to Rs.43239 when grown in the open field. The benefit cost ratio for greenhouse was 2.61 and 2.58 for open field cultivation. The internal rate of return for greenhouse was 40 and 35 per cent for open field cultivation. The pay back period for capsicum under greenhouse was 4 years. It was observed that, techno-economically; cultivation of capsicum in winter under greenhouse will be acceptable by the farmers of Odisha.

Prevalence of ber black fruit spot (Alternaria alternata) and its management

Ber black fruit spot (Alternaria alternata (Fr.) Keissler) is the most serious disease limiting the quality fruit production. The disease produces round, slightly depressed, black spots with clear margin on fruit surface. During surveillance, the disease was present in Ludhiana, Fazilka, Sri Muktsar Sahib and Patiala districts of Punjab with incidence varied from 4.7 to 22.8 per cent. The disease index was highest in Fazilka and lowest in Patiala. Among cultivated varieties, Sanuar-2 showed maximum (20.7%) while Kaithali showed minimum (4.7%) disease incidence. Out of twenty one ber cultivars, Sanuar-2 was susceptible whereas Thornless, Sanuar-4, Pathani, Safeda, Selected Safeda, Seo and Nalagarh were resistant to the disease. In vitro, azoxystrobin and mancozeb were effective in inhibiting the growth of pathogen with ED50 value of 0.8 ppm and 74 ppm, respectively. Two sprays of azoxystrobin (0.1%) and mancozeb (0.25%) in mid-January and mid-February were better in controlling the disease.

Relationship of severity pruning and weather variables on quality fruit production of ber (Ziziphus mauritiana L. cv. Sanaur-2)

Pruning had a vital role on the quality of fruit production in ber fruit crop under lower Shiwaliks of Punjab. The severity of pruning intensity significantly influenced the tree vegetative growth parameters and flowering behaviour of ber cv. Sanaur-2 viz. number of emerged shoots per branch, shoot length and girth of primary shoot. A significant higher percentage of fruit set, fruit retention, higher percentage of ‘A’ grade fruits and other fruit quality parameters viz., fruit weight, TSS, acidity, vitamin C, total sugars was recorded significantly higher in pruning treatment by removal 50 per cent vegetative growth over other treatments. Powdery mildew incidence steadily increased from standard meteorological weeks (SMW) 36 - 39 to 40 - 43 and then decreased under different pruning treatments. The severity of pruning reduces the incidence of powdery mildew. The meteorological knowledge on various weather variables at 3 - 4 weeks to actual incidence also can be effectively used to check the spread and severity of the disease.

Pear Flower Cluster Quantification Using RGB Drone Imagery

High quality fruit production requires the regulation of the crop load on fruit trees by reducing the number of flowers and fruitlets early in the growing season, if the bearing is too high. Several automated flower cluster quantification methods based on proximal and remote imagery methods have been proposed to estimate flower cluster numbers, but their overall performance is still far from satisfactory. For other methods, the performance of the method to estimate flower clusters within a tree is unknown since they were only tested on images from one perspective. One of the main reported bottlenecks is the presence of occluded flowers due to limitations of the top-view perspective of the platform-sensor combinations. In order to tackle this problem, the multi-view perspective from the Red–Green–Blue (RGB) colored dense point clouds retrieved from drone imagery are compared and evaluated against the field-based flower cluster number per tree. Experimental results obtained on a dataset of two pear tree orchards (N = 144) demonstrate that our 3D object-based method, a combination of pixel-based classification with the stochastic gradient boosting algorithm and density-based clustering (DBSCAN), significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art in flower cluster estimations from the 2D top-view (R2 = 0.53), with R2 > 0.7 and RRMSE < 15%.

Integrated nutrients management in Khadrawy date palm under hot arid region

A field experiment was conducted to see the effect of organic (FYM) and inorganic (NPK) sources as well as foliar spray of micronutrients on fruit yield and quality of date palm fruits. Total eighteen treatments were taken, and allocated in randomized block design with three replications on uniform 35 years old date palmtrees. The treatments were applied during last week of October in soil application, and foliar applications of micronutrients were applied twice in November and March. The results revealed that the combined applicationof T15 (100 kg FYM + 1.00 kg N + 0.500 kg P2O5 + 1.00 kg K2O + 1.00% FeSO4 + 0.50% ZnSO4) and T14 (100 kg FYM + 1.00 kg N + 0.50 kg P2O5 + 1.00 kg K2O + 0.50% FeSO4 + 0.25% ZnSO4) significantly improved the fruit yield,total soluble solids, total sugars, reducing sugars, ascorbic acid, N, P, K, Fe and Zn content in fruit, and reduced the acidity and tannin content with higher returns over rest of the treatments. Thus, this manure, fertilizers andmicro-nutrients dose helped in sustainable optimum production of quality and nutritional fruits of date palm cv. Khadrawy in Bikaner conditions.

Ideal harvesting point of ‘Limeira-IAC382’ trifoliate orange fruits for seed extraction

Abstract Trifoliate orange is one of the rootstocks most used worldwide mainly because it provides excellent quality fruit production. Harvest at the correct time is among factors that determine the physiological quality of seeds. The aim of this study was to identify physicochemical changes in ‘Limeira-IAC382’ trifoliate orange fruits, searching for the ideal harvest moment to obtain high quality seeds. Fruits were harvested at 180, 210 and 240 days after anthesis, stored in cold chamber and evaluated at 0, 15, 30 and 45 days of storage. The following variables were determined: mass loss, fruit color index, soluble solids, total titratable acidity and fruit juice ratio. Seeds were manually extracted and dried until reaching 30% water content. Seeds were used for the performance of germination, electrical conductivity and greenhouse seedling emergence tests. Seeds from fruits harvested at 240 DAA showed higher germination and greenhouse seedling emergence percentage compared to the other treatments until 30 and 45 days of storage in cold chamber, respectively. Storage for 45 days in cold chamber of fruits harvested at 210 DAA increases seed germination rate and the percentage of seedlings from seeds harvested at 180 DAA. It could be concluded that the harvesting of ‘Limeira-IAC382’ trifoliate orange fruits should be performed when fruits reached yellowish peel and low juice ratio, aiming at obtaining seeds with physiological quality.

Application of filter cake and poultry litter in the production of tomatoes for fresh

The tomato crop is the second most relevant in Brazil and of higher added value. The investment of fertilizer for the increase in the production of quality fruits is quite feasible, and for this we have been encouraged the use of organic fertilizers in order to improve the physical-chemical characteristics of the soil and increase the production in the cultivation of vegetables. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse, containing 4 treatments: T0: control, T1: sugarcane filter cake; T2: poultry litter; T3: the combination of T1 and T2 in a ratio of 1: 1, with a fixed dose of 10 ton / ha for all treatments, 5 replicates and 5 plants per treatment, making a total of 100 plants. The design was a completely randomized design with four treatments and five replications.The variables studied were subjected to analysis of variance by the F test and the means were compared by the Duncan test (p <0.05). The analyzes were fresh fruit mass (yield), fruit height and width, soluble solids content, lycopene, beta - carotene, pH, ratio and leaf analysis. The fresh mass of the tomato fruit was higher in the treatment that corresponds to the combination between the sugarcane filter cake and the poultry litter, being approximately 25 tons per hectare, which indicated production superior to the other treatments, this can be verified, since these organic fertilizers contain nitrogen and potassium, which directly influenced the vegetative growth and fruit quality, as was verified in the soluble solids content and fruit size (height and width) of this same treatment. also superior to the others. The pH values did not vary statistically between treatments. As the pigment analysis found a higher beta carotene content compared to lycopene. t was concluded that the association of filter cake and poultry litter treatments is feasible due to the increased production obtained, and the use of these by-products for the production of vegetables may complement the chemical fertilizer due to the excellent physico-chemical properties , and these wastes from industries become less costly to the producer and is a way of taking advantage of something that would be discarded in nature.

Classification of Tangerine (Citrus Reticulata Blanco) Quality Using Combination of GLCM, HSV, and K-NN

The quality of fruit production is very important because it is related to the value of sales. Data from the Directorate General of Horticulture at the Ministry of Agriculture in 2017 showed that 94,3% of the total yield of citrus fruits is a type of tangerine. In the classification of the quality, the visual observation process is strongly influenced by subjectivity so that in certain conditions such as tired eyes and the number of oranges that want to classify too many the process can be inconsistent and also take a long time. Therefore, a technology is needed to accelerate the classification process and make it more objective. This study combines the Gray level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) method for texture, Hue, Saturation, Value (HSV) features for color features and the k-Nearest Neighbor (k-NN) classification method. The data used were 60 images of rotten tangerines and 60 images of not rotten tangerines divided using a 4-fold cross-validation method to find the best combination of data training and data testing. 3 main processes will be carried out, namely preprocessing, feature extraction and classification. This study produced the highest accuracy of 80% from the combined of GLCM and HSV features extraction with value k = 5 for k-NN .

Evaluation of Various Chemicals Against Citrus Canker on Grapefruit cv. Shamber

A good quality fruit fetches a high market value. Citrus canker disease badly affects quality of citrus fruits including grapefruit. The present study was conducted to find out suitable chemicals, alone or incombination, for the control of citrus canker. The experiment was conducted on 15-year-old disease-affected grapefruit cv. Shamber plants in the orchard of Horticultural Research Station, Sahiwal to control the disease for better quality fruit production. Therefore, four sprays of Aliette (300 g 100 L-1 of water), Bordeaux mixture (1:1:100), Flare (100 g 100 L-1 of water) or Bordeaux mixture + Flare were applied; two in the month of March and other two in the month of August with fifteen days interval along with control (no chemical). Combined application of Bordeaux mixture and Flare reduced the attack of citrus canker on leaves and fruits. Comparatively lower values of affected leaves (1.27%), lesions per leaf (0.40), affected fruits (0.25 %) and lesions per fruit (0.22) were observed in the treatment in which a combination of Bordeaux mixture and Flare was sprayed on the plants. The disease percentage was high on leaves and fruits of unsprayed (control) plants, while other thee treatment were in the middle in their efficacy to control the disease.

Foliar Application of Limewash Improves Vegetative and Reproductive Growth and Fruit Quality of Bell Pepper under Deficit Irrigation

A good quality fruit fetches a high market value. Citrus canker disease badly affects quality of citrus fruits including grapefruit. The present study was conducted to find out suitable chemicals, alone or incombination, for the control of citrus canker. The experiment was conducted on 15-year-old disease-affected grapefruit cv. Shamber plants in the orchard of Horticultural Research Station, Sahiwal to control the disease for better quality fruit production. Therefore, four sprays of Aliette (300 g 100 L-1 of water), Bordeaux mixture (1:1:100), Flare (100 g 100 L-1 of water) or Bordeaux mixture + Flare were applied; two in the month of March and other two in the month of August with fifteen days interval along with control (no chemical). Combined application of Bordeaux mixture and Flare reduced the attack of citrus canker on leaves and fruits. Comparatively lower values of affected leaves (1.27%), lesions per leaf (0.40), affected fruits (0.25%) and lesions per fruit (0.22) were observed in the treatment in which a combination of Bordeaux mixture and Flare was sprayed on the plants. The disease percentage was high on leaves and fruits of unsprayed (control) plants, while other thee treatment were in the middle in their efficacy to control the disease.