Vol. 11, Special Issue 5 (2022)

Author(s):
Karobi Handique, DN Hazarika, S Langthasa, HB Khanikar and GD Deori

Abstract:
An experiment was carried out during 2017-2019 to study the morphological characterization of custard apple (Annona reticulata) grown in Brahmaputra valley of Assam. The experiment was conducted in the laboratory with custard apple fruits collected from 10 different locations of Assam i.e. CA-1: Bokajan, CA-2: Guwahati, CA-3: Titabor, CA-4: North Lakhimpur, CA-5: Biswanath Chariali, CA-6: Narayanpur, CA-7: Sadiya, CA-8: Sivasagar, CA-9: Nagaon and CA-10: Tezpur. The experiment was laid out in completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. The leaves of custard apple collected from different locations of Assam shows lanceolate leaf blade shape with entire leaf margin, acuminate apex and acute base. The colour of the leaves varies from light green to dark green. The leaf length of custard apple leaves collected from different places ranges from 16.73 cm to 24.27 cm, leaf breadth ranges from 2.83 cm to 4.63 cm with petiole length ranged from 0.90 cm to 1.53 cm. The plants of Bokajan and Guwahati recorded early flowering and harvesting among the custard apple plants of other locations in the present study. The fruit characters of custard apple namely fruit shape, colour, length, diameter, volume, weight and pulp colour was also varies in all the fruits. The colour of the fruits was observed to be greenish yellow, yellowish, reddish and yellowish red in colour. The fruits of North Lakhimpur recorded maximum length (8.90 cm) and diameter (8.63 cm) while the fruits of Guwahati recorded minimum length and diameter of 6.10 cm and 5.80 cm, respectively. Again, the fruit weight ranges from 145.00 g to 443.33 g and volume ranges from 114.67 to 385.00 cc. The colour of the seeds varies from brown to dark brown and black. The length and girth of the seeds ranges from 0.80 cm to 1.40 cm and 0.23 cm to 0.73 cm, respectively. The total seed number per fruit ranges from 30.33 to 82.33 while the weight of ten seeds was found to be 1.14 g to 2.03 g. The variation in the results of the present investigation in morphological and biochemical characters among the custard apple fruits might be due to the different climatic conditions and management practices.