Peaches are well-liked amongst the stone fruits in Pakistan. The peach industry faces significant losses, from harvesting to marketing. The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of foliar sprays of salicylic acid (SA) on the fruit quality of peaches (cv. ‘Flordaking’) at the harvest and postharvest life or stages. Different concentrations of SA (control, 1, 2 and 3 mM) were sprayed on the plants at three growth stages of fruit, i.e., the cell division, cell enlargement and pit-hardening stages. In general, all the SA treatments improved the fruit quality at harvest and maintained higher levels of flesh firmness, titratable acidity and ascorbic acid during storage. However, fruit weight loss, soluble solid contents, membrane leakage, chilling injury, color development, disease and decay incidence and the climacteric peak of ethylene were lowered by SA treatment after six weeks of low-temperature storage. SA at a 3-mM concentration was proven to be the most effective in maintaining the quality for a longer period of time during low-temperature storage. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the application of SA at fruit development stages can improve the harvest quality and storability of ‘Flordaking’ peaches.

Grapevine is one of the most widely-planted fruit crops in the world, and is the most economically important fruit crop in the state of New York, USA. Symptoms of anthracnose on grapevine are simil...

Micronutrient (iron, zinc and boron) deficiencies are a basic and prominent factor affecting grape quality and yield in the Pothwar region. To overcome these deficiencies, different levels of micronutrients were applied foliarly on grapevines at five different berry developmental stages during two consecutive growing seasons (2018 and 2019). The data suggested that foliar treatment of micronutrients significantly increased the yield, number of bunches per vine, bunch weight, yield per vines, bunch length, berry number per cluster, berry diameter, berry weight and cluster compactness. The biochemical quality attributes of berries, including sugars (reducing, non-reducing as well as total sugars), ascorbic acid content, pH and TSS values, were at their highest levels in grapevines supplemented with Fe, Zn and B treatment at 200 ppm, respectively, i.e., the highest concentrations used. Biochemical leaf values, including chlorophyll a and b and leaf micronutrient content (Fe, Zn and B), were also highest in grapevines that were sprayed with Fe, Zn and B at 200 ppm. Overall, the results revealed that the performance of grapevine cv. ‘Flame Seedless’ growing in agroclimatic conditions of the Pothwar region was improved as a result of the foliar application of Fe, Zn and B at 200 ppm. The results also suggested that a further increase in the concentration of each nutrient might be helpful to obtain berries of improved quantity and quality.

The development of seedless cultivars is a primary goal in grapevine breeding. Since grapes are stenospermic and tend to abort their embryos before development, traditional breeding methods often yield seedless cultivars at a low frequency. Therefore, embryo rescue has emerged as a promising approach for creating seedless grape cultivars. This study aimed to optimize the ideal sampling time and protocol for efficient embryo rescue in grapes. Ovules from immature berries collected at various days after pollination (20DAP, 30DAP, 40DAP, and 50DAP) were cultured on Nitsch and Nitsch (NN) medium with different concentrations of Benzyl aminopurine (BAP) (0.1, 0.2, and 0.5 mg/L) and Activated Charcoal (AC) (1.5, 2, and 2.5 g/L). Several parameters were assessed, including maximum ovule growth, the percentage of enlarged ovules, percentage of collapsed ovules, callus formation percentage, and embryo germination percentage. The study’s results indicated that berries collected at 40 DAP yielded the best outcomes across all parameters. Regarding treatments, the most favorable results were achieved when ovules were cultured on NN medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/L BAP and 2 g/L AC. In conclusion, the study underscores the significance of choosing the right sampling time and treatments to ensure efficient embryo rescue in grapes. The protocol standardized from this research is recommended for effectively rescuing embryos and developing seedless hybrids.

Peanut, the only cash crop of rainfed areas of Pakistan, is facing immense challenges due to global warming. Climatic factors particularly the temperature fluctuations and rain pattern shift significantly impact the production and yield of peanut and unavailability of resilient varieties exacerbate this impact. To deal with the cropping pattern change and yield losses, due to climate vagaries, a study was conducted to develop early maturing hybrids using line into tester mating design. The F₁ hybrids from the parental lines were produced in the year 2018 using Line × Tester mating design and then grown in the field in the year 2019 for further evaluation. The hybrids were evaluated based on the early maturity and yield-related attributes in comparison with the parental lines. Based on the general combining ability estimate, line V-3 (Golden), was found as best parent with highly significant values for plant height, days to peg formation, days to maturity, number of pegs per plant, number of pods per plants, number of seeds per plant, 100 pod weight 100 seed weight. Similarly, tester V-7 (PI 635006 01 SD) showed highly significant results of GCA for days to germination, day to 50% flowering, plant height, days to peg formation, days to maturity, number of pegs per plant, number of pods per plants, number of seeds per plant, 100 kernel weight, shelling percentage. All the combinations were evaluated for specific combining ability and significant results were observed for V-3 × V-4 (Golden × PI 619175 01 SD) and V-1 × V-6 (BARI-2000 × PI 564846 01 SD) by developing or maturity and yield-related attributes. The hybrid combinations V-3 × V-5 (Golden × PI 635006 01 SD) followed by V-3 × V-6 showed highly significant results for mid parent heterosis and better parent heterosis for days to 50% flowering, plant height, days to peg formation, number of pegs, days to maturity, number of mature seeds per plant, shelling ratio, 100 pod weight and 100 kernel weight. These parents and hybrid combinations with early maturity genes and high yield attributes can further be used for the development of short duration variety.