Young tree performance of grapefruit varieties (Citrus paradisi Macf.) under central Indian conditions

Background: Grapefruit is one of the important citrus species commercially cultivated worldwide. Recently, it is gaining popularity in India. Identification of regional specific suitable varieties is important. Keeping in this view, an experiment was conducted at Research Farm, ICAR-Central Citrus Research Institute, Nagpur to evaluate performance of grapefruit varieties under Central India conditions. Methods: Seven grapefruit varieties viz. NRCC Grapefruit – 6, Flame, Star Ruby, Red Blush, Marsh Seedless, Foster and Imperial budded on Rough lemon rootstock were planted at a spacing of 5 x 5 m during 2017. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications. The observations on plant growth, yield, and quality parameters were recorded during 2023. Results: The analysis of the data suggested that significant differences were found among the grapefruit varieties for the traits studied. The highest plant height was found in Red Blush (1.71 m) followed by Marsh Seedless (1.60 m). However, the highest canopy volume was found Red Blush (4.84 m3) followed by Marsh Seedless (3.51 m3), which were at par. Among seven varieties, the highest fruit weight was found in NRCC Grapefruit 6 (470.67 g) followed by Red Blush (370.00 g) and Flame Grapefruit (319.33 g). The highest TSS was found in Foster (8.60 0Brix) and NRCC Grapefruit-6 (8.60 0Brix). The highest juice content was in NRCC Grapefruit-6 (37.79 %). There was no significant difference was found for number of fruits tree-1 and the highest yield was recorded in Red Blush (5.87 kg/tree) which was at par with Flame (5.71 kg/tree). Conclusion: Based on the findings from first year of fruiting, NRCC grapefruit-6, Red Blush and Flame grapefruit are performing better at the initial stage of bearing.