Evaluation and selection in half-sib progenies of Psidium guajava']java aiming to identify pink pulp with soft seed progeny

Guava (Psidium guajava L) is one of the commercially important fruit crops being cultivated in India. Of late, pink pulp varieties are getting commercial importance due to its consumer preference. However, pink pulp varieties are having higher number of seeds with bold seed size, which limits its wide acceptance. Hence, in the present study it is aimed to identify genotypes with deep pink or red colour pulp with few soft seeds. The study comprises of 48 half-sib progenies from the group of 337 half-sib progenies of guava var. Arka Kiran based on their flowering and fruiting performance. High and moderate level of genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variances were recorded for fruit weight, fruit yield, plant height, plant girth, fruit length and fruit circumference indicating that the progenies have adequate genetic variability and these traits are suitable for further improvement through selection. From the results of ICP-MS analysis of two best performing genotypes (PG 1-7 and PG 34-1) and its parent Arka Kiran, it is revealed that PG 1-7 and PG 34-1 had higher level of mineral contents when compared to its parent Arka Kiran. The results of the principal component analyses indicated which were the primary traits and are utilized for progeny selection amongst the population. It is inferred that the PC1 and PC2 exhibited better fruit quality and biochemical traits. Molecular diversity analysis of 12 selected progenies using molecular markers inferred that the better performing progeny PG 1-7(B) and the parent Arka Kiran (A) were distinctly placed in the separate clusters, that shows genetic dissimilarity of genotype PG 1-7 from the parent Arka Kiran, which confirms that PG 1-7 is the potential progeny and it could be prioritized for commercial exploitation amongst the progenies studied.