influences of variety and flowering time on some physio-morphological and chemical traits of dragon fruit (hylocereus spp.)

Purpose: this study was conducted to evaluate the influences of variety and flowering time on physio-morphological and chemical characters of dragon fruit. research method: two varieties (bau dragon fruit 1 and bau dragon fruit 2) and four flowering times (may, june, july, and august) were selected for this investigation. the experiment was laid out in a randomized completely block design with five replications. findings: significant variations were observed between two varieties of dragon fruit. it was found that bau dragon fruit 2 exhibited better performances on studied parameters as compared to bau dragon fruit 1. it was observed that at 38 days after fruit setting (dafs), bau dragon fruit 2 produced the highest fruit length (10.01cm), fresh weight (307.94 g/fruit), dry weight (24.85 g/fruit), pulp weight (168.98 g/fruit), peel weight (91.32 g/fruit) and total soluble solids (tss) (25.16% brix) as compared to another variety. the combine effects of variety and flowering time showed that august flowering of bau dragon fruit 2 produced maximum fruit length (10.74 cm) and peel weight (115.65 g/fruit) while may flowering of bau dragon fruit 2 produced maximum fresh weight (456.50 g/fruit), pulp weight (302.12 g/fruit), moisture content (94.63%) and tss (27.17 %brix) as compared to other flowering time. in terms of time required to fruit maturity, august flowering bau dragon fruit 2 matured earlier (30.6 days) than june flowering (35.04 days). research limitations: evaluation of more varieties of dragon fruit was a research limitation. originality/value: these findings reveal that flowering time irrespective of variety has direct effects on fruit growth and development of dragon fruit.