Correlation studies for effect of fruit grade on fruit quality and seed traits of mandarin variants in North East India

Field experiments were conducted during 2007–10 at ICAR Sikkim Centre, Tadong located at 1,400 m amsl to identify the suitable grade of fruits for raising nucellar nursery and fresh fruit marketing of Sikkim mandarin. Small and large sized fruits were collected from all the four districts of Sikkim. The highest fruit weight (161.25 g/fruit), waste index (1.14), TSS: acid ratio (8.00) and number of healthy seeds per fruit (19.5) were recorded. Maximum juice (53.2%), minimum waste index (0.68) and number of healthy seeds (7.1) were found in small fruits. Negative correlation between specific gravity and number of healthy seeds per fruit (−0.714) was observed. Waste index of fruits revealed significant positive correlation with healthy seeds per fruit (0.727) and total seed weight (0.721), while negative correlation with fruit shape index, specific gravity and juice content. Big sized fruits possessed high number of good quality seeds per fruit, which can be used for nursery raising as well as for fresh fruit marketing purpose, whereas small sized fruits with higher juice percentage can be recommended for fresh juice preparation.