Pollen sources and time of pollination for hand pollination affect biochemical and organoleptic attributes of sugar apple (Annona squamosa L.) cv. Arka Sahan

Abstract: The present investigation aimed to know the effect of different pollen sources and time of pollination for hand pollination on biochemical and organoleptic properties in sugar apple cv. Arka Sahan. For the study, a total 130 flowers of cv. Arka Sahan were hand pollinated with three different pollen sources, such as Balanagar, Raydurg and APK-Ca 1 at three different times in the July. It was found that pollen source and timing significantly affected fruit quality attributes and organoleptic traits. Fruits of T₁ (first pollination with Balanagar) exhibited maximum pulp weight, fruit weight and seeds per fruit. The biochemical traits such as higher total soluble solids (32.33 ºBrix), lower titratable acidity (TA) (0.25%), higher total sugar (TS) (25.55%), reducing sugar (RS) (22.75%) and non-reducing sugar (NRS) (2.66 %) were also reported in T₁. Likewise, higher ascorbic acid (AA) (27.87 mg/100g) and minimum total phenols content (TPC) (66.76 ?g GAE/100g) were also obtained in T₁ yielded fruits compared to the naturally pollinated (control). Evaluation of organoleptic revealed that pollen source and pollination time also affected the sweetness, sourness aroma, grittiness and overall acceptability (8.62) of pulp. Results of organoleptic evaluation revealed that pollen sources and pollination times also affected the sweetness, sourness, aroma, grittiness and overall acceptability (8.62) of the fruit pulp. Hence, Balanagar could be used as an effective pollen source for hand pollination in Arka Sahan during initial weeks of July to get higher quality and acceptability of the sugar apple fruits.