Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 7
Fruit quality parameters (juice content; Total soluble solids, TSS; Titrable acidity,
TA and ascorbic acid) of 'Kinnow' mandarin under different irrigation treatments during 2010
and 2011.
Fruit quality parameters
2010
2011
Mean
Treat-
ments
Juice
content
(%)
TSS
(
0
Brix)
TA
(%)
Ascor-
bic acid
(mg/l)
Juice
content
(%)
TSS
(
0
Brix)
TA
(%)
Ascorbic
acid
(mg/l)
Juice
content
(%)
TSS
(
0
Brix)
TA
(%)
Ascor-
bic acid
(mg/l)
RDI
0
42.5
b
9.7
c
1.04
a
101.3
c
43.8
b
10.2
c
1.02
a
103.6
c
43.2
b
10.°C
1.03
a
102.5
c
RDI
50
47.3
a
10.8
a
0.76
c
116.8
a
48.6
a
10.9
a
0.74
c
119.1
a
48.0
a
10.9
a
0.75
c
118.0
a
FI
49.6
a
10.2
b
0.81
b
105.3
b
50.8
a
10.4
b
0.79
b
106.9
b
50.2
a
10.3
b
0.80
b
106.1
b
Data in one column followed by different letter are signifi cantly different at
P <0.05,
as per separation by Duncan's
multiple range test.
RDI
0
= No irrigation at early fruit growth period (EFGP); RDI
50
= Irrigation at 50% crop evapotranspiration at EFGP.
The TSS in juice increased from RDI
0
to RDI
50
and then decreased at FI. The higher
juice content is one of the reasons for dilution of soluble solids concentrations in fruits
with FI. Moreover, the TA percentage in juice was recorded maximum with RDI
0
. The
higher TA and lower TSS with the fruits in RDI
0
treatment compared to that in RDI
50
was probably caused by enhanced transformation of acids to sugars in dehydrated
juice sacs which is required to maintain the osmotic pressure of fruit cells under mild
water defi cit condition prevailed under RDI
50
. Earlier studies also demonstrated the
higher TSS in citrus fruits under soil water defi cit condition in root zone of plants [15].
However, the TSS and TA did not show any signifi cant difference at RDI
50
and FI. The
ascorbic acid concentration in juice, which is a vital vitamin of citrus fruits, increased
from RDI
0
to FI. However, the RDI
50
and FI were statistically at par (
P
< 0.05) in rela-
tion to ascorbic acid content.
19.3.9 ECONOMICS
The net income (NI), which is the subtraction of total annual cost from annual gross
return was observed to be highest under FI, followed by RDI
50
(Table 8). The net in-
come under FI was higher (INR 30000) than RDI
50
.However, the maximum return per
unit investment, otherwise called benefit-cost ratio (B: C) was estimated to be highest
under RDI
50
(13.0). Also, RDI
50
produced the highest economic water productivity
(INR 1720 per mm water used) among the treatments.
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