Floral biology and physico-morphological characteristics of 10 bael (Aegle marmelos) germplasm grown at Chapainawabganj, Bangladesh

Abstract

The experiment was carried out in the research field and laboratory of Regional Horticulture Research Station (RHRS), BARI, Chapainawabganj during 2018 to 2019 to know the floral biology and post-harvest physical parameters of ten bael germplasm viz., AM-01, AM-02, AM-03, AM-04, AM-05, AM-06, AM-07, AM-08, AM-09 and AM-10 which were grown at Chapainawabganj. The maximum number of pollinations occurred in selected germplasm at 6:00-10:00am when temperature was 27-33°C and relative humidity was 79-83°F. The earliest flowering was observed at 7 April 2019 in AM-02 germplasm. The flowering duration was noted in between 51 to 60 days. The maximum anthesis was occurred at 7:00-8:00 am. Estimates for the maximum fruit weight, fruit length, fruit diameter, pulp weight, and skull pulp percentage in the AM-04 were 2900g, 28.90cm, 55.0cm, 2305g, and 79.48%, respectively and lowest fruit weight was recorded 750g in AM-07 compared to the others germplasm. The AM-06 germplasm had the highest recorded number of seeds (170), whereas the AM-02 and AM-08 genotypes had the lowest calculated number of seeds per axil (76). The superior germplasm of Bael is indicated by the lowest seed number.