EBRAHIM SABOKI
Abstract
Background and Objectives Ber (Ziziphus spp.) is one of the most ancient fruits indigenous to India and grows in tropical, subtropical and dry areas of the world. Growing of commercial ...
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Background and Objectives Ber (Ziziphus spp.) is one of the most ancient fruits indigenous to India and grows in tropical, subtropical and dry areas of the world. Growing of commercial cultivars of ber is common in many countries. Some of such cultivars originated in India and Pakistan, have been cultivated in the south part of Baluchestan region since several years ago. However, there is very little information about adaptability and fruit quantitative and qualitative characteristics of these cultivars. Thus, conducting the present research was deemed necessary. The objectives of this research were to evaluate vegetaitive growth and fruit properties of six superior Ber cultivars in Baluchestan. Materials and methods In the first phase of the research (2006-2011), vegetative growth of six superior ber cultivars existing in Baluchestan were studied in a complete randomized block design, with four replications and three plants per replication at Tropical Fruits Research Station in Chabahar district. The cultivars were Behzadi, Farzadi, Hanifi, Soopi, Sibi Seyah and Sibi Sefid. One season after budding, vegetative growth, length of main branch, trunk diameter at lower part and upper part of budding were measured. Fruit morphological chractristics including fruit weight, length, diameter, fruit shape, seed weight and fruit pulp were evaluated at the harvest time. Statistical analysis was performed with MSTAT-C software and the means were compared using Duncan's Multiple Range Test. Results The results showed that all these cultivars have good vegetative growth in this region and significant differences in vegetative growth indexes were observed between different cultivars. Maximum longitudinal growth of main branch during the growth season (200 cm), diameters of main branch at the lower part (38.8 mm) and at the upper part of budding position (38.1 mm) were observed on Hanifi ber cultivars. Although plants still did not reach economic bearing age, there was a significant difference among cultivars in some fruit characteristics including fruit weight, length, diameter and shape, stone weight and fruit pulp percentage. Discussion Based on the obtained results from the present study can be concluded that, all sex ber cultivars had good adaptibility in the Chabahar climate. Most fruit morphological chractristics of different ber cultivars in the current research, were in the range accomplished by previous studies. However, final recommendations will be achieved after the plants reach to the economic bearing age.
