PARTICIPATORY SURVEY OF FRUIT AND QUALITY TRAITS OF PUMMELO (CITRUS MAXIMA (BURM.) MERR.) ACCESSIONS FROM SAMASTIPUR AND MUZAFFARPUR DISTRICTS OF BIHAR

Abstract

Pummelo (Citrus maxima (Burm.) Merr.) is grown in north Bihar mostly as scattered homestead trees, and its variation has not been described. A participatory survey was carried out in 2020 and 2021 in 16 villages of Samastipur and Muzaffarpur districts, covering 60 farmer-managed accessions (29 and 31 per district). Fruit weight, segment number, peel thickness, fruits per tree, total soluble solids (TSS) and titratable acidity were recorded in three replicates, and the TSS/acidity ratio was calculated. Eating quality (sweet or sour), fruit shape and segment colour were scored as classes. The data were analysed by one-way ANOVA and principal component analysis (PCA). Accessions differed significantly (P < 0.001) for all seven traits. Accession means ranged from 0.65 to 3.00 kg for fruit weight, 0.83 to 3.90 cm for peel thickness and 50 to 400 for fruits per tree. TSS averaged 8.62 °Brix, acidity 0.53% and the TSS/acidity ratio 17.07. The two districts were similar for all traits, and most variation lay among individual trees. Of the 60 accessions, 90% were rated sweet. Sour accessions had a TSS of 7.2 °Brix or less and a ratio below 11, and the ratio separated the two classes more clearly than TSS did. Three principal components explained 64.5% of the variation, but the KMO value was low (0.49), so the PCA is descriptive only. Eight accessions combined TSS of at least 8.9 °Brix, acidity of 0.50% or less and fruit weight of at least 1 kg, and accessions 34, 41, 5 and 33 were the most promising. These are candidates for vegetative multiplication and multi-season evaluation under uniform conditions, and the survey gives a baseline for conserving and selecting pummelo in Bihar.