Authors: Rajni Rajan
Introduction
- The genus Psidium of Myrtaceae family comprises of 150 species of small trees and shrubs.
- About 20 species have edible fruits, of which the most commonly cultivated is the common
- guava i.e., Psidium guajava L.
- It is reported that the value of wild Psidium species lies mainly in their utility as rootstocks for regulation of vigour, fruit quality and resistant to pests and diseases.
- The Institute has 110 accessions of guava and 7 Psidium spp. in its field gene bank.
- Eighty-two accessions of guava were characterized for fruit characteristics.
- Two open pollinated seedling selections of coloured guava, namely, CISH-G-3 and CISH –G-H-G-4
- In case of Lalit, fruits are attractive, saffron yellow coloured with red blush, medium sized, firm and pink flesh
- Pink colour in the beverage made from the pulp of this variety remains stable for more than a year during storage.
- Jelly made from Lalit is of high quality.
- Shweta has subglobose fruits with few soft seeds, high TSS (140Brix) and attractive pink blush. It has good yield
The important genetic resource in world are listed below :
| Scientific Name | Common Name |
| Psidium guajava var. Aromaticum | Common guava |
| P. cattleianum | Cattley guava |
| P. friedrichstalianum | Chinese guava / Costa Rican guava |
| P. guineense | Brazilian / guinea guava |
| P. montanum | Mountain guava |
| P. pomiferum | Round shaped guava |
| P. pyriferum | Pear shaped guava |
| P. pumilum | Pyramidal shaped guava |
| P. molla | ------------------- |
| P. cujavilis | ------------------- |
| P. policarpum | ------------------- |
| P. chinensis | ------------------- |
| P. araca | ------------------- |
| P. littorale | ------------------- |
| P. coriaceum | ------------------- |
| P. microphyllum | ------------------- |
| Some other relatives | |
| Feijoa sellowiana | Pineapple guava |
| Myrciaria cauliflora | Jaboticaba |
| Syzygium malaccense | Mountain apple |
| Eugenia uniflora | Surinam cherry, acerola |
- Psidium Spp.
- Nearly 150 species are grown under the genera of Psidium. Psidium is indigenous to tropical and sub-tropical
Calyx; not divided in two lobes. Fruit is berry.
- Psidium guajava
- Small tree cultivated commonly for edible fruits, plant shallow rooted shrub or small tree 3-10 m height branching
- Bark is smooth greenish or reddish brown, peeling of thin flakes.
- Young twigs are four angled and ridges, leaves are opposite glandular, petiole 3-10 mm long.
- Flowers are axillary.
- Sometimes, solitary, or 2-3 flower in cymose type inflorescence large, white pedicellate, actinomorphic,
- Psidium catlleianum
- (Strawberry guava or Cattleya guava).
- It is native to brazil, sometimes, itis grown for small round, purplish red fruits of 3 cm diameter.
- The white flesh has sweet acid flavour, may be eaten raw or as jelly.
- It is small tree can be distinguished from guajava by erect branchlets and smaller coriaceous, glabrous, obvate
- It is hardy, sub-tropical species closely related to guava.
- This species can tolerant more low temperature than P. guajava.
- Psidium montanum
- (Mountain guava)
- It is found in the mountain of Jamaica, shrub, about 1.5 m high, flat round branchlets.
- Psidium friedrichstalianum
- (Chinese guava)
- Fruits are small and glabose shape with very high acid content.
- It is proved to be good root stock as it is dwarfing in nature.
- And resistant to wilt disease and a compatible root stocks.
- Psidium catlleianum var. Lucidium
- It is sulphur yellow colour and trees are comparatively large in size (12 m).
- Fruits are mostly used for jelly preparation.
- Psidium molla
- Medium height of tree, leaves are green and oval in shape, leaf apex pointed.
- Red hairs are present on central veins, 6-8 pairs of primary veins found petals 5-11, stamens 196-239, stigma long
- Fruits are small in size, average weight 13 g.
- Psidium pumilum
- Tree like pyramidal in shape, leaves are light colour, small size, non pubescent, 13-17 pair of primary veins, petals 7, drop immediately, stamens are 252-327 in number.
- If flower twice in a year, fruit weight 19 g per fruit.
- Psidium guineense
- (Guinea guava and Brazilian guava)
- Plants are like shrub or small tree.
- Leaves are green in colour broad, oblong-oval, acute or obtuse, 8-12 cm long with lower surface pubescent, red
number.
- Plant flowers round the year, small fruit (6 g weight) and poor fruit quality.
- Psidium cujavilis
- It resembles to P. guineense in growth characters and flowering habit of plants.
- Fruits are small to medium in size with sour taste.
- Psidium policarpum
- Growth characters resembles to P. guajava except fruit shape which are pyriform in shape.
- Fruit of big size (average weight 200-250 g per fruit).
Varietal Diversity
- Guava is mainly a self-pollinated crop but cross-pollination is also common.
- This resulted in large variability in seedling population from which promising genotypes are selected in
- In India, different workers in different regions described guava varieties.
- Main centre of variability in guava is the Allahabad area in Uttar Pradesh.
- In India, Due to seed propagation, varietal diversity is seen for guava, but species diversity is not seen.
| STATE | CULTIVARS |
| Andhra Pradesh | Allahabad Safeda, Anakapalli, Banarasi, Chittidar, Hafsi (Red Fleshed), Lucknow-46, Sardar, Seedless, Smooth Green, Smooth White |
| Assam | Amsophri, Madhuriam, Safrior payete |
| Bihar | Allahabad Safeda, Chittidar, Hafsi (Red Fleshed), Harijha, Seedless |
| Maharastra | Nasik, Seedless, Sindh |
| Gujarat | Dharwar, Dholka, Kothrud, Lucknow-24, Sardar |
| Tamil Nadu | Anakapalli, Banarasi, Bangalore, Chittidar, Hafsi, Nagpur Seedless, Smooth Green |
| Uttar Pradesh | Allahabad Safeda, Apple Colour, Chittidar, Red Fleshed, Banarasi Surkha, Sardar, Mirzapuri Seedless |
| West Bengal | Behrampur and cvs. Of Uttar Pradesh |
https://www.britannica.com/topic/list-of-plants-in-the-family-Myrtaceae-2075387 .
https://issuu.com/kisanadmin/docs/guava_8d13be6c1332f5 .
About Author / Additional Info:
I am currently pursuing Ph.D. in Fruit Science from University of BAU, SABOUR.