Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

PHYSICO-CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF WILD APPLE (MALUS BACCATA) IN KUMAON HILLS OF UTTARAKHAND

Arun Kishor, B. L. Attri, Manoj Brijwal, Anil Kumar, Raj Narayan, D. B. Singh, Sovan Debnath, M. S. Mer and V. K. Tiwari

Abstract

A survey was conducted in Kumaon hills of Uttarakhand (India) for evaluation of physico-chemical characteristics in wild apple (Malus baccata). During the survey, total five variants of wild apple were collected and assessed for their important physico-chemical traits. A considerable variability in physicochemical characteristics was observed among the variants. Majority of the varia nts were small (<2.5 m) to large (>5 m) in tree size, produce medium size (15-30 mm) fruits which were round to globose in shape, yellowish red to dark red in colour and mid (August-September) to late (October-November) in maturity. The highest leaf length (7.54 cm), leaf width (4.90 cm) and leaf area (64.69 cm2) was recorded in Collection- 4, while the lowest leaf length (6.10 cm) and leaf width (3.30 cm) was recorded in Collection-1. The highest fruit length (31.53 mm), fruit width (38.45 mm), fruit weight (28.15 g), total sugars (8.94%), reducing sugars (6.41%), total anti-oxidant activity (32.65 mMTE/L), seed length (7.32 mm), seed width (4.06 mm) and seed index (3.18 g) was recorded in the Collection-5, while lowest leaf area (48.64 cm2), fruit length (8.68 mm), fruit width (9.09 mm), fruit weight (0.45 g), total sugars (2.83%), carotene content (84.08 μg/100 g), total anti-oxidant activity (10.05 mMTE/L), seed length (4.59 mm), seed width (2.09 mm) and seed index (1.18 g) was recorded in ollection-2. The most of the physico-chemical characteristics were found superior in Collection-4 and Collection-5 as compared to other wild apple collections.