Studies on fruit growth and development in pummelo

Abstract

Abstract : An investigation was carried out to study the growth and development pattern of pummelo fruit and to identify the critical time for pummelo fruit growth and development. It was observed that during fruit growth and development, rind colour of the immature fruit after fruit set was green, then turned to deep green after 105 days and subsequently attained greenish yellow colour after 150 days at fruit maturity. Oil glands on the rind were visible clearly after 14 weeks of fruit set, although the seeds were clearly visible after 10 weeks of fruit set. A rapid increase in fruit length and diameter was observed in April-May and from mid July- 2nd week of August. Therefore, April-May and mid July- middle of August was the critical period for pummelo. Weight of developing fruits and growth of internal fruit diameter were followed a sigmoid pattern up to maturity. The fruit attained its maximum weight (945.8g) at the end of 180 days after fruit set with full maturity. Fruit length had a significantly strong positive relationship with fruit diameter (0.998), internal fruit diameter (0.976) and fruit weight (0.985).