Evaluation of Acid Lime (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle) Genotypes for Growth, Yield and Quality Traits

Abstract

A study on evaluation of acid lime genotypes for growth, yield and quality traits was carried out at Citrus Research Station, Vannikonenthal, Manur Taluk and Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu during the year 2021–2023. Twenty five acid lime genotypes were selected for the experiment. Observation on quantitative traits  such as tree height (m), tree spread (m), canopy spread (m2), tree girth (cm), leaf lamina length (mm), number of fruits/tree, mean fruit weight (g), fruit length (cm), fruit girth (cm), fruit volume (cc), number of seeds per fruit, yield/tree (kg) and qualitative traits such as total soluble solids (°Brix), acidity (%), juice content (ml), fruit juice percentage (%) and ascorbic acid content (mg/100g) were recorded. The present study results revealed that genotype SCA 19 recorded the highest values for the traits such as tree height (3.49 m), tree spread (3.58 m2 E-W; 3.74 m2 N-S), canopy spread (6.57 m3), leaf lamina length (58.40 mm) and tree girth (13.66 cm). However, genotype SCA 06 registered the lowest tree spread character. In the case of yield traits, genotype SCA 19 registered the highest values in number of fruits per tree (1080), mean fruit weight (58.75 g), yield per tree (57.89 kg per tree), number of seeds (9.10), fruit length (8.50 cm), fruit girth (4.90 cm) and fruit volume (54.81 cc). Regarding quality traits, SCA 19 observed the highest values viz., TSS (6.71˚Brix), acidity (6.78 %), ascorbic acid content (26.50 mg/100 g), fruit juice percentage (52.1 %) and juice content (46.0 ml). Hence, acid lime genotype SCA 19 recommended for further evaluation in different parts of Tamil Nadu.