Performance of various grapes cultivars under agro-climatic conditions of Central Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

Grapes are a rich source of sugars, vitamins, minerals and organic acids which are an important part of human nutrition
and vital for growth and development. Climate plays an important role in berry development, growth, fruit ripening and
physical as well as biochemical properties of the berry fruits such as size, colour, sugars and taste. Grapes are an important
crop that have been grown throughout the world. In Pakistan it is mostly grown in Balochistan and temperate areas. The
performance of grapes under climatic conditions of central Punjab are still unexplored. Hence, the experiment was
designed to study the performance of nine cultivars of grapes viz., White Seedless, Pearlette, Badana, Black Seedless,
Haita, Flame Seedless, King‟s Ruby, NARC black, Cardinal under agro-climatic conditions of Central Punjab during the
year 2019-20. Results showed that higher bunch size (307.3 cm), bunch weight (456.2g), berry size (176.8mm), and berry
weight (3.82g) was observed in King‟s ruby compared to other varieties. TSS (21.8 ⁰ Brix), TSS: TA ratio (90.9) was
higher in white seedless and maximum TA (0.46%) was found in Flame seedless. Vitamin C content was higher in
pearlette (26.9 mg /100 g) and NARC Black (27.3 mg/100 g). It is concluded that the performance of King‟s ruby and
NARC Black were better in central Punjab condition as compared to other cultivars grown as they have more berry weight
and better fruit quality