2024, Vol. 7, Issue 11, Part H

Dragon fruit (Hylocereus spp.) cultivation in the Northern Telangana Agro climatic zone is still in its infancy state. A block plantation with four distinct dragon fruit genotypes was established in December 2019 at the Horticulture Research Station, Adilabad, Telangana, with an objective to study the morphological, floral, fruiting, yield and quality characteristics so as to inform the choice of genotypes for area expansion and diversification. The fruit yield and quality characteristics were studied on four year old plantation showed a significant variations among the Hylocereus spp. H. undatus, white flesh with pink epicarp had produced 43.20±4.50 fruits / pole, average yield of 10.55±0.82 kg / pole in six flushes with very high epicarp to flesh ratio 0.61±1.01 and 11.3±0.80 °Brix. H. costaricensis, (violet red flesh with pink epicarp) produced 73.40±6.70 fruits/ pole, average yield of 17.63±0.98 kg / pole in six flushes with moderate epicarp to flesh ratio 0.46±0.91 and 9.3±0.60 °Brix. H. polyrhizus, red flesh with pink epicarp had produced 61.25±10.30 fruits / pole, average yield of 17.78±0.79 kg / pole in six flushes, epicarp to flesh ratio 0.54±0.82 and 8.2± 1.2 °Brix. H. megalanthus, white flesh with yellow epicarp produced 2.0 fruits / pole, average yield of 0.55 ±0.23 kg / pole in a single flush/ year with 0.52±0.12 epicarp to flesh ratio and 14.2±1.6 Brix°. The higher yield of H. costaricensis and H. polyrhizus makes them more viable for commercial cultivation compared to H. undatus and H. megalanthus.