Performance of bael (Aegle marmelos) cultivars under hot arid ecosystem of Rajasthan

Abstract

The study was conducted during 1998-2004 to assess performance of bael (Aegle marmelos Correa) cultivars under hot arid ecosystem of north-western Rajasthan. The budded plants of 07 bael cultivars, viz 'NB 5', 'NB 7', 'NB 9', 'Pant Aparna', 'Pant Urvashi', 'Pant Shivani' and 'Pant Sujata' were planted in low fertile sandy soil at 6 m apart. The observations on growth parameters revealed that the cultivars 'Pant Aparna', 'NB 5', 'NB 9' and 'Pant Sujata' can be categorized as dwarf type, whereas cultivars 'Pant Urvashi', 'NB 7' and 'Pant Shivani' as vigorous types. Among different cultivars, big fruit size (> 1.45 kg) was obtained in 'NB 7', 'NB 9' and 'Pant Shivani', while in cultivars 'NB 5', 'Pant Urvashi', 'Pant Sujata' and 'Pant Aparna' medium size (< 1.0 kg) fruits were obtained. The highest yield/plant was recorded in 'NB 5' (25.50 kg), followed by 'NB 9' (22.94 kg) and 'Pant Urvashi' (19.38 kg). Variable quality attributes were recorded among different cultivars but in general, better quality fruits with respect to high TSS and low acidity were obtained. There were also heavy fruit drop in all the cultivars and <4% fruits were retained up to maturity. Fruit cracking which ranged from 15.63 to 44.47 % emerged as serious problem of bael cultivation in this region. The cultivars 'NB 5', 'NB 9', 'Pant Urvashi' and 'Pant Shivani' can be recommended for cultivation in hot arid ecosystem but with proper management of moisture, nutrient and problem of fruit cracking.