Evaluation of aonla (Emblica officinalis) varieties under hot semi-arid conditions of Western India

An experiment was conducted to evaluate aonla (Emblica officinalis Garten) varieties for their vegetative and fruit characters at KVK, Panchmahal, Vejalpur (Godhra), Gujarat, under rainfed hot semi-arid ecosystem during 2013–14. All varieties behaved differently in their vegetative and fruit characters. The growth habit was observed as tall drooping, upright spreading, tall semi-spreading and tall upright. The plant height varied from 3.64 to 5.69 m in all varieties. The trunk colour (grey and whitish green), leaf shape (oval oblong,oblong and elliptical), leaf apex (obtuse and acute) also varied. The size of leaves in terms of length and width ranged between 1.28 cm × 0.24 cm and 48 cm × 0.33 cm, respectively. The time of fruit setting and time of fruit maturity differed considerably among all varieties. The highest fruit setting (51.95%) and fruit retention (26.40%) were recorded in NA 7, whereas it was lowest in Francis (36.56% and 11.43%). Variations in size of fruits was marked as small, medium and large. The highest fruit weight was found in NA 7, while it was lowest in Anand 2. The qualitative characters, viz. fruit juice content, acidity, pulp content, vitamin C content, TSS, TSS: acid ratio and stone weight were 41.56–71.62%, 2.04–2.16%, 24.57–31.76 g, 348.42–543.82 mg/100 g, 9.74–11.75% and 4.05–5.66 g and 1.96–2.09 g, respectively. The stone in fruits also varied with respect to its shape (oval, oval round and round) and size and seed (small, medium and large).