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Dr. Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture & Forestry, Solan
Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, was established on 1st December, 1985 with the objective to promote education, research and extension education in the fields of Horticulture, Forestry and allied disciplines. Late Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar, the first Chief Minister and the architect of Himachal Pradesh perceived the importance of Horticulture and Forestry to develop and improve the State economy which led to the establishment of this University. Its history lies in erstwhile Himachal Agricultural College, Solan, established in 1962 and affiliated to the Panjab University. It became one of the campuses of Agriculture Complex of Himachal Pradesh University on its formation in 1970. Consequent upon the establishment of Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya in 1978, this campus became its Horticulture Complex and finally in 1985, assumed the status of a State University, being the only University in the country engaged exclusively in teaching, research and extension in Horticulture and Forestry.
The University is located at Nauni in Solan District of Himachal Pradesh, 13 km from Solan on Solan-Rajgarh Road, at an elevation of 1300 metres above mean sea level. Solan town is situated on national highway (NH-22) and is well connected by train and bus services.
The University has four constituent colleges, out of which, two are located at the main campus Nauni, one for horticulture and the other for forestry, having 9 and 7 departments, respectively. The third College i.e., College of Horticulture & Forestry is located at Neri in Hamirpur District on Nadaun-Hamirpur state highway, about 6 Km from Hamirpur town and is well connected with bus service. The college offers three Undergraduate Degree Programmes i.e. BSc (Hons.) Horticulture, BSc (Hons.) Forestry and B. Tech. Biotechnology and MSc degree programme in a few subjects. The fourth college i.e. College of Horticulture and Forestry, Thunag (Mandi) is located at Thunag District Mandi. This college offer BSc (Hons.) Horticulture and BSc (Hons.) Forestry degree programme. In addition, there are five Regional Research Stations, 12 Satellite Stations and five Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) situated in different zones of the State.
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ThesisItem Open Access STUDIES ON SELF-INCOMPATIBILITY AND FRUIT DEVELOPMENT IN STRAWBERRY (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.)(UHF,NAUNI, 2017-10) DEEPIKA; SHARMA, GIRISHABSTRACT The present investigation entitled “Studies on self-incompatibility and fruit development in strawberry (Fragaria x ananassaDuch.)’’was carried out during 2014 to 2017 in the experimental field of Department of Fruit Science, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni,Solan, Himachal Pradesh. In experiment 1, floral morphology was studied in sixteen strawberry cultivars,Gorella (0.67 cm) had maximum receptacle, ‘Pajaro’ maximum stamen length (0.53 cm),‘Belrubi’ (309.12) and ‘Chandler’ (307.93) highest pistil numbers followed by ‘Gorella’ (301.62). Pistil length was maximum in ‘Gorella’ (2.03 mm). ‘Fern’ recorded maximum pollen viability with acetocarmine ((89.88 %) and erythrcin B (78.20 %) tests. Pollen germination was best with 15 per cent sucrose solution (73.10). In experiment II, different modes of pollination were studied in seven cultivars, fruit set with better fruit size and weight was obtained from cross-pollination, followed by hand and open pollination and least was in self-pollination.Cross pollination increased fruit set (95.75 %), seed germination (94.16 % in ‘Chandler x Gorella’), fruit weight (16.34 g), fruit length (41.15 mm in ‘Gorella’ x ‘Chandler’) and fruit breadth (34.10 mm in ‘Confectura x Gorella’) and reduced fruit malformation (3.40 % in ‘Chandler x Gorella’) compared to other pollination modes.Selfing by bagging reduced fruit set by 33.89 %, seed germination by 25.39 %, fruit weight by 41.00 % and increased fruit malformation by 174 % compared to open pollination. On the basis of fruit set, self-incompatibility index ranged from 0.47 to 0.71 among all the cultivars.In experiment III, Parental lines Gorella and Chandler exhibited good general combining ability for fruit weight, fruit size, number of fruit and flowers per plant, plant height, spread, leaf area and yield/plant. ‘Selva’, ‘Addie’, ‘Ofra’ were goodgeneral combiners for short duration of flowering and early flowering, including ‘Gorella’ for early flowering. Cross combinations, Chandler x Gorella, Chandler x Selva, Chandler x Sweet Charlie, Selva x Sweet Charlie, Selva x Confectura, Gorella x Ofra, Sweet Charlie x Confectura, Selva x Gorella and Selva x Confectura were good specific combiners for fruit weight, size, number of fruit and yield components. ‘Addie x Ofra’ and ‘Selva x Gorella’ were good specific combiners for plant height, while ‘Ofra x Confectura’ was good reciprocal combiner. ‘Confectura x Chandler’ was good reciprocal combiners for early flowering and early fruit maturity, whereas‘Addie x Chandler’, ‘Addie x Selva’, ‘Addie x Gorella’ were good reciprocal combiners for yield components.The estimates of variance ratio were found to be < 1 for almost all the traits included in this study except for plant height and leaf number indicated predominance of non additive gene action.ThesisItem Open Access EFFECT OF NITROGEN SOURCES ON GROWTH, PRODUCTION, FRUIT QUALITY AND NUTRIENT STATUS OF APPLE CV. ROYAL DELICIOUS(UHF,NAUNI, 2017) SINGH, DEEPIKA; BHATIA, H.S.ABSTRACT The present investigation entitled “Effect of nitrogen sources on growth, production, fruit quality and nutrient status of apple cv. Royal Delicious”, was conducted in private orchard at Denwari (Rohru) in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh during the year 2015-16. Twenty eight years old apple trees of cultivar Royal Delicious grafted on seedling rootstock of uniform vigour. The trial was laid out in randomized block design (factorial) with four replications. The purpose of these studies were to compare the effects of various sources of nitrogen on apple growth, production, fruit quality, leaf and soil nutrient status, to find out alternate source of nitrogen for the substitution for CAN (calcium ammonium nitrate), which was recommended for Himachal Pradesh. Two field experiments were conducted simultaneously in same orchard wherein, soil application of five sources of N viz. urea, calcium nitrate, 19:19:19 + urea, 12:32:16 + urea and calcium ammonium nitrate similarly, soil application of nitrogen sources + foliar urea sprays at the three levels (840, 700 and 560 g N/tree) were tried and compared to get best nitrogen source and level of application. The data were recorded for growth, fruit set, yield, quality, leaf and soil nutrient status of apple for both the experiments and data of two years was also pooled and analysed to assess the combined impact of the treatments. On the basis of experimental results CAN at 700 g level was observed best treatment for growth, fruit set, yield and was closely followed by calcium nitrate at 700 g N/tree and urea at 700 g N/tree. Leaf N content was recorded with the treatment of urea at 840 g N/tree, whereas highest P and K content were recorded with 19:19:19 + urea at 560 g N/tree. Leaf Ca, Mg and micronutrient concentrations viz., Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn were also quantified significantly by different soil N fertilization in similar trend. Soil pH decreased with treatment 12:32:16 + urea. However, Organic carbon, soil nutrients (N, Fe, Cu and Mn) increased with urea application. Soil P and K contents increased with 12:32:16 + urea and CAN, respectively. Likewise the experimental results of soil applied N sources and levels + foliar urea sprays has observed calcium ammonium nitrate + foliar urea sprays at 700 g N as best treatment combination and was closely followed by calcium nitrate + foliar urea sprays and urea (soil) + urea (foliar) application at 700 g N level. Similarly, Leaf N content was recorded with the urea (soil) + urea (foliar) at 840 g N/tree, whereas highest P and K contents were recorded with soil + foliar treatment (19:19:19 + urea) + urea at 560 g N/tree. Leaf Ca, Mg and micronutrient concentrations viz., Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn were also quantified significantly by different soil + foliar N fertilization in similar trend. Soil pH decreased with soil + foliar application of CAN + urea, whereas organic carbon, soil nutrients ( N, Fe, Cu and Mn) increased with urea (soil) + urea (foliar) treatment. Soil P and K contents increased with soil + foliar treatment (12:32:16 + urea) + urea and CAN + urea, respectively. Since, the CAN availability is problem due to ban on its production, calcium nitrate and urea are two left out options. So, calcium nitrate or urea at 700 g N/tree as soil application and calcium nitrate (soil) + urea (foliar) or urea (soil) + urea (foliar) at 700 g N/tree are best sources based on present experiments and therefore, recommended for use by the farmers/orchardists.ThesisItem Open Access “Studies on the effect of Dormex and CPPU on biochemical changes and production of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa Chev.)”(UHF,NAUNI, 2017) BABITA; RANA, VISHAL S.ABSTRACT The present investigation entitled “Studies on the effect of Dormex and CPPU on biochemical changes and production of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa Chev.)” was carried out in the Kiwifruit Block of Department of Fruit Science during 2014-16. The kiwifruit vines having uniform growth and vigour, planted at a spacing of 4m x 6m and trained on T- bar system were selected for the present study. The entire program of study was divided into three experiments. The Experiment-I was laid out according to RBD 12-years-old kiwifruit cv. Hayward and comprised of seven treatments viz., T 1 (Dormex 2%), T 2 (DORMEX 2% + Mineral oil (Orchol) 2%), T 3 (Dormex 4%), T 4 (Dormex 4 % + Mineral oil (Orchol) 2%), T 5 (Dormex at 6%), T 6 (Dormex Mineral oil (Orchol) 2%) and T 7 (control). These treatments were given 45 days prior to anticipated date of bud break as a foliar spray. Application of Dormex at 4 per cent along with mineral oil 2 per cent resulted an advancement of bud break by 9-10 days, emergence of flower buds by 9 days, full bloom date by 9-11 days, fruit set by 11-12 days. Maximum number of shoots emergence and number of buds per flowering shoots were also obtained with this treatment in comparison to control. Further, this treatment resulted in highest total fruit yield, maximum periodic increase in bud peroxidase activity with the concurrent decrease in catalase activity and highest C/N ratio in comparison to untreated vines. The Experiment-II was laid out according to Variance-ratio test (F-test) and Fisher’s t-test/ Behran dtest on 30-years-old vines of Allison kiwifruit, comprising CPPU (a synthetic cytokinin) treated and untreated fruits to study the different growth kinetic curves in developing kiwifruit. The CPPU 5ppm was applied as a fruit dip treatment after 10 days of petal fall. The results revealed that CPPU treated fruit exhibited higher fresh weight at 15 days interval exhibited double sigmoid growth pattern, characterized by rapid growth for 75days (Stage-I), period slow growth for 15 days (Stage-II) and period of enhanced growth for 90 days (Stage-III). This treatment also resulted in bigger sized fruits in terms of length and diameter. The CPPU treated fruits recorded higher amounts of total carbohydrates, ascorbic acid, organic acids and nutrients viz., nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium. Among growth hormones, CPPU exhibited higher levels of IAA, GA 3 , Zeatin riboside with lower levels of ABA during all fruit growth stages. Residue dynamics of CPPU in kiwifruit revealed a rapid and continuous decrease of CPPU residues in developing kiwifruit with complete dessipation after 45 days of application. The Experiment-III was carried out to illucidate the effect of CPPU on the postharvest behaviour of kiwifruit after storage at ambient temperature (25+2 o C). This experiment was laid out according to RBD factorial. During storage, CPPU treated fruits exhibited higher per cent of physiological loss in weight (PLW), reduced titratable acidity, high TSS, polygalacturonase (PG) and pectin methyl esterase (PME) activities. Further, the CPPU application enhanced the climacteric rise in respiration and ethylene production during fruit ripening, shortening the shelf life of kiwifruit in comparison to untreated fruits.ThesisItem Open Access STUDIES ON THE EFFECT OF DRIP IRRIGATION AND FERTIGATION IN PEACH (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch.) cv. REDHAVEN(UHF,NAUNI, 2017) VERMA, PRAMOD; CHANDEL, J.S.ABSTRACT The present investigation entitled“Studies on the effect of drip irrigation and fertigation in peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch.) cv. Redhaven” was carried out on five-year old peach trees duringthe years 2015 and 2016 in the integrated horticultural based farming system modelfarm of Dr Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan (H.P.), India. The two experiments were conducted during the course of study. The first experiment consisted of five irrigation treatments viz. drip irrigation at 100, 80 and 60 % ETc, basin irrigation at 100 % ETc and rainfed (control), and each treatment was replicated five times. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design. Drip irrigation at 100 and 80 per cent ETc significantly increased growth,yield, fruit quality parameters and leaf nutrient contents as compared to basin irrigation and control. The results revealed that drip irrigation at 100 per cent ETc recorded maximum increase in tree height, tree spread, tree volume, trunk girth and highest annual shoot growth, fruit yield and proportion of three layer grade fruits. The fruit quality parameters in terms of fruit length and diameter, fruit weight and volume, total soluble solids and sugars content were also found highest in drip irrigation at 100 per cent ETc treatment. The trees irrigated with drip irrigation at 100 % ETc also significantly increased leaf macro (N, P, K, Ca and Mg) and micro (Fe, Zn,Mn and Cu) nutrient contents than basin irrigation and control. The highest total water requirement (93.23 and 108.78 cm/tree during 2015 and 2016, respectively) was recorded in trees subjectedto basin irrigation at 100 per cent ETc treatment,however, the maximum water-use-efficiency was found in drip irrigation at 80 % ETc treatment during both the years. Drip irrigation at 100 % ETc registered 21.22, 16.07, 17.72 and 24.02 per cent increase in tree height, trunk girth, annual shoot growth and yield, respectively, over basin irrigation method of irrigation and also produced better size and quality fruits. The second experiment consist of eight treatment combinations consisting of four levels of fertilizer concentration viz. Recommended dose (RD) of NPK through soil, 100, 80 and 60 per cent of RD of NPK through drip, and two levels of dripirrigation (drip irrigation at 100 and 80 % ETc). The results revealed that treatment combination of fertigation at 100and 80 per cent of RD of NPK and drip irrigation at 100 per cent ETc significantly increased tree height, tree spread, trunkgirth and annual shoot growth, fruit yield, proportion of three layer grade fruits, fruit length and diameter, fruit weight and volume, TSS, sugars and leaf nutrient contents in comparison to soil fertilization. Although fertigation at 100 % RD of NPK incombination with drip irrigation at 100 % ETc attained maximum vegetativegrowth and produced highest yield of better quality fruits, but was found statistically at par with fertigation at 80 % RD of NPK in combination with drip irrigation at 100 % ETc, which resulted in 10.31 and 17.19 per cent increase in tree height, 12.16 and 19.83 per cent increase in yield over soil fertilization with maximum fertilizer-use-efficiency of 7.97 and 12.00 q/ha/q during 2015 and 2016, respectively.ThesisItem Open Access Studies on effect of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria and GA3 on plant growth, fruiting and soil health of strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) cultivar Chandler(YSPU, 2015) Seema Kumari; Mehta, KuldeepThe present investigations entitled “Studies on the effect of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria and GA3 on plant growth, fruiting and soil health of strawberry cultivar Chandler” were conducted in the experimental area of Dr. Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, during the year 2013 and 2014. The studies were conducted under two different experiments, with the objectives to study the effect of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria on plant growth, yield, quality, leaf nutrient status and soil health, and to study the effect of GA3 and its combinations with plant growth promoting rhizobacteria on plant growth, yield, quality and leaf nutrient status. The experiments were laid out in randomized block design consisting 35 treatments along with control and replicated thrice. In the present investigation, Experiment-1 included the application of five different isolates of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (S1: Bacillus licheniformis CKA 1, S2: Bacillus subtilis CB 8 A, S3: Bacillus sp. RG1, S4: Bacillus sp. S1 and S5: Bacillus sp. S2) to the strawberry plants through root dip (at the time of planting), foliar application (20 days before expected flowering) and root dip+ foliar application methods, while in Experiment- II, different concentrations of GA3 (25, 50 and 75 ppm) alone or in combinations with these isolates applied as foliar application. Among the different treatment combinations, S1, S3 and S4, alone applied as root dip + foliar application methods or in combination with GA3 @ 75 ppm as foliar application method, were recorded to be most effective isolates with respect to plant height, spread and number of crowns per plant, whereas S4 and S5 was effective in increasing leaf area and number of runners per plant. All the isolates alone or in combination with GA3 resulted in early flowering, harvesting, longest flowering and harvesting durations and yield as compared to the control. The number of fruits and yield per plant were recorded highest with the individual application of S1, S2 and S4 through root dip + foliar application method or in combination with 75 ppm GA3. In case of fruit quality, the isolates S1, S3 and S5 resulted in increased fruit quality viz., fruit weight, size, TSS, acidity, sugars and ascorbic acid. The TSS and sugars were maximum when these isolates were applied alone through root dip or in combination with 25 ppm GA3. The increase in GA3 concentrations resulted in decreased TSS and sugar content, and increase in acidity and ascorbic acid content. The anthocyanin content was maximum with the application of S1 and S2 through root dip method or in combination with 50 ppm GA3 but showed a decline in content at higher GA3 concentration. Results further showed that the leaf nutrient status (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Zn, Fe, Cu and Mn) were also increased with the application of S1, S2 and S5 when applied through root dip + foliar application method or in combination with GA3 @ 75 ppm. However, improved soil health and soil biological properties (available N, P, K, Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, total rhizobacteria and endo-rhizobacteria, phosphate solubilizing, siderophore producing and nitrogen fixing bacteria) were also observed with the application of these isolates when applied through root dip + foliar application methods.ThesisItem Open Access Studies on crop regulation with chemical thinning, gibberellic acid and pruning in nectarine cv. May Fire(YSPU, 2016) Rimpika; Sharma, NThe present investigations entitled “Studies on crop regulation with chemical thinning, gibberellic acid and pruning in nectarine cv. May Fire” were carried out on 12-year-old trees of nectarine cultivar May Fire raised on wild peach seedling rootstocks at the experimental orchard of Horticulture Research Station, Kandaghat, District Solan and Farmer’s orchard at Kotla Barog, District Sirmaur during 2014-15. In experiment I, experimental trees were subjected to nine treatments viz. NAA at 40 ppm and 60 ppm; Ethrel at 200 and 300 ppm applied one and two weeks after petal fall and control with three replications in Randomized Block Design. At both locations, treatment with NAA at 40 ppm when applied two weeks after petal fall induced significantly higher thinning, increased shoot growth, tree height and spread, leaf area, photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll content, leaf to fruit ratio, superior grades’ fruit yield, fruit size, weight and volume. Total soluble solids, total sugar and reducing sugar contents were higher and acidity and firmness lower in the fruits from trees treated with NAA at 60 ppm two weeks after petal fall during both the years, irrespective of locations. Surface colouration was higher in fruits from trees treated with Ethrel at 300 ppm two weeks after petal fall during both the years, irrespective of locations. However, chemical thinners were more effective at Kandaghat, in respect of all these parameters and the induction of fruit abscission following application of treatments was higher during 2014 compared to 2015 over the control. In different NAA and Ethrel treatments, disintegration of cells in pith, vascular and cortex regions was advanced at Kandaghat in the year 2014 at 20.5- 24.5°C/ 13-14°C maximum and minimum temperature and 47.3-60.3% average relative humidity after application chemical thinners. In experiment II, experimental trees were subjected to 17 different treatments of crop regulation with chemical thinners, pruning and GA 3 ; chemical thinner were more effective in improving the production of superior grade fruits than reducing the crop load directly by pruning or indirectly by GA treatments.Again treatments with NAA at 40 ppm when applied two weeks after petal fall reduced the crop load to the greatest extent and improved fruit size, yield of superior grade fruits and fruit quality. Pruning to retain 40 fruiting shootstree-1+ NAA 40 ppm, 2WAPF increased the shoot growth, tree height, tree spread and leaf area.ThesisItem Open Access Geographical Information System based assessment of location suitability for apple (Malus×domestica Borkh.) production(YSPU, 2016) Belsare, Chaitanya Ramdass; Sharma, NThe present investigation entitled “Geographical Information System based assessment of location suitability for apple (Malus×domestica Borkh.) production” was carried out at different locations and altitudes in district Shimla and Kinnaur during the years 2012 - 2014. The data on weather, geological, physical, production, quality, soil and socio-economic parameters were recorded. The result revealed that the temperature decreased linearly with the corresponding increase in altitude. Rainfall was recorded significantly lower at both the locations of district Kinnaur in comparison to all the locations of district Shimla. Depending upon the climatic variations at different locations during the course of study, dates of chilling unit initiation, rest completion, end of chilling period and full bloom stages of Starking Delicious apple showed discrepancy among the locations and between the years. According to present findings all the locations in Shimla and Kinnaur fulfilled the basic chilling requirement for apple. Different altitudes showed significant positive correlation with flowering intensity, fruit set, yield, productivity, fruit length, diameter, weight, TSS, TSS/acid ratio, sugars whereas, negative and significant association was found between altitudes and fruit acidity. Soil temperature and moisture increased with the progress in growth period and increase in altitudes. The suitability map of apple for Shimla and Kinnaur districts was obtained after running the geographically weighted regression model. The highly suitable areas includes Shimla, Kumarsain, Kalpa and Pooh blocks, where the temperature and altitudes were found to be in the exact optimum range and this area is about 211.79 sq km. In case of fairly suitable zone, there was moderate correspondence between climatic conditions and requirement of apple in these areas compared to best suitable zone. This zone includes Theog, Chopal, Jubbal, Rohru, Chirgaon and Nichar blocks with an area of 157.18 sq km. However, unsuitable zone considered as areas that are not suitable for apple because of non-compatibility between prevailing climatic requirements of apple. This zone includes Basantpur and Rampur covering an area of 47.26 sq km.ThesisItem Open Access Pollination studies and development of day neutral cultivars in strawberry (Fragaria x ananassaDuch.)(YSPU, 2016) Suman Lata; Sharma, GirishThe present investigation entitled “Pollination studies and development of day neutral cultivars in strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) was carried out during 2011-12 and 2012-13 in the experimental field of Department of Fruit Science, Dr Y SParmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh. In experiment 1,variability, correlation and path analysis were studied in sixteen strawberry cultivars. ‘Chandler’ outperformed all other cultivars for vegetative characters such as plant height, plant spread, number of leaves, leaf area, number of runners and number of fruits per plant. Fruit size, weight and yield were maximum in cultivar Gorella.High coefficients of variability for total yield, number of fruits per plant average berry weight and number of runners per plant may be used for improvement through selection. Total yield showed both high heritability coupled with high genetic gain.Yield per plant was positively and significantly associated with plant height , plant spread, leaf number per plant, leaf area, number of runners per plant, fruit length, fruit breadth, number of achenes per fruit, number of fruits per plant, average berry weight.Plant spread had positive direct effect on yield / plant in the first year and in second year for number of fruits / plant, number of runners / plant, leaf number, fruit breadth and fruit weight, days to maturity , number of achenes / fruit , TSS .In experimentII, malformed fruit formation was improved by hand and cross pollination. In hand pollination ‘Fern’ and ‘Shasta’ had least malformed fruits. When hand pollinated,‘Pajaro’ x ‘Catskill’ and ‘Belrubi’ x ‘Douglas’ showed least malformed fruits. Maximum fruit set with better fruit size was from cross-pollination, followed by hand and open pollination and least was in self-pollination.In experiment III, ethrel (500 ppm) resulted in higher (86.67 %) germination followed by 200 ppm gibberellic acid (84.33 %).The line ‘Chandler’ exhibited good general combing ability for plant height , spread, leaf area, fruit size, number of fruits per plant and TSS and ‘Sweet Charlie’ was good combiner for plant height, spread, fruit size, fruit weight and TSS.Among the testers ‘Torrey’ showed good GCA for plant height, leaf number, leaf area, fruit length, fruit weight and ‘Selva’ for leaf area, number of fruits per plant and TSS.Combining ability depicted prominent role of non-additive gene action formost of the traits except plant height, fruit breadth and TSS.Variability among the crosses was mainly due to higher contribution of lines compared to individual contribution of testers and line x tester interaction.ThesisItem Open Access Selection and characterization of superior genotypes from seedling tree population of mango (Mangifera indica L.) in Himachal Pradesh(UHF,NAUNI, 2016) GUNVANT, BHOYAR MAHESH; KRISHAN, KUMARABSTRACT The present study “Selection and characterization of superior genotypes from seedling tree population of mango (Mangifera indica L.) in Himachal Pradesh” aimed to assess variation among already existing mango trees of seedling origin. A total of 81 healthy and bearing mango trees of seedling origin were marked across mango growing areas of Kangra and Hamirpur districts of Himachal Pradesh during 2013-15. Marked trees were observed to be erect to spreading in growth habit, oblong to semi-circular in shape of crown having sparse to dense foliage density ranges of tree height (7.3-34.7 m), trunk girth (0.65-4.1 m) and crown diameter (2.8-36.8 m). During „on‟ year yield ranged from 5.4-374.3 kg/tree with efficiency of 0.0056-0.203 kg/cm2. But in „off‟ year it is ranged from 0.0-21.41 kg/tree with an efficiency of 0.0-0.0184 kg/cm2. Low variation witnessed in various leaf and floral characters. None of the marked trees was reported to be regular bearer. Physical characters like fruit dimensions, fruit weight, fruit volume, stone weight, stone length and width, stone thickness, pulp weight, peel weight, skin thickness, edible and non-edible portion per cent, stone:pulp, peel:pulp and TSS were 13.98-80.58 cm2, 27.55-169.12 g, 31.50-178.83 ml, 6.34-40.31 g, 17.78-71.47 mm, 10.95-51.28 mm, 14.83-37.26 mm, 14.04-112.00 g, 6.1627.03 g, 0.867-2.95 mm, 48.10-66.21 per cent, 33.79-51.90 per cent, 0.353-0.561, 0.150.547 and 8.45-18.37 ºBrix respectively. Out of 81 mango seedling trees studied 11 trees were designated as „elites‟ based upon overall distinct attributes. These selections excel in one or more horticulturally desirable traits and have been vegetatively propagated for field conserved as a part of elite germplasm conservation. Sensory evaluation of fruit flavours, aroma, texture and taste of all 11 mango seedling selections was carried out by panelist. Also, the specific consumptive use (table, pickling or sucking) of each of the mango selections has been worked out. On the whole, the present study has resulted in some elite mango selections of indigenous origin representing a valuable genepool for use in future.