Abstract
Ten experiments were conducted to determine morphological and yield variations of BAU- GPC released fruit varieties under the saline prone areas of Bangladesh as compared to BAU-GPC, Mymensingh during September 2009 to June, 2013. The experiment one to five was laid out in two factors and six to ten was laid out in single factor randomized complete block design with three replications and analysis was done by the MSTAT-C package program whereas means were adjudged by Least Significant Difference (LSD) test at both 1% and 5% levels of probability. One year old grafted samplings of each variety were planted. The morphological data were recorded at 3 month interval after planting while yield data
were recorded at harvest of 2, 3 and 4 years of planting. Moreover, household surveys were
conducted through questionnaire to evaluate the interest and attitude of farm households
towards BAU fruit varieties. The saplings of BAU Mango-1 grown under Agailjara showed
the best performance on number branches/plant (50.00), canopy volume (5.21 m³), total and harvested fruits/plant (28.21 and 23.50, respectively) as compared to other varieties and
locations which highly influenced the fruit yields (4.63 t/ha). The saplings of BAU Guava-5 also highly influenced the fruit yields (8.78 t/ha) under the same location while the branches/plant (167.57), and harvested fruits/plant (71.11) also performed well under Agailjara area. BAU Jujube-2 was most productive (20.70 t/ha) under Agailjara location which also highly influenced the plant height (5.40 m) and fruits/plant (444.33). BAU
Lemon-3 grown under Agailjara also showed the best performance on fruit yields (4.16 t/ha) while same treatments also highly influenced the total and harvested fruits/plant (81.12 and 65.33, respectively). The best performances regarding harvested fruits/plant (471.88) along with fruit yields (15.52 kg/plant or 14.94 t/ha) were recorded from BAU Waxjambu-2 grown under Agailjara area. The saplings of BAU Carambola, BAU Aonla, BAU Sapota, BAU Malta and BAU Hog Plum grown under Agailjara produced the highest fruit yields (3.47 t/ha, 1.48 t/ha, 2.41 t/ha, 3 t/ha and 4.92 t/ha, respectively) along with better response to other most studied traits of morphological variation. However, the ranges of salinity had higher (Ec= 11.97 dS/m) in the soil of Mongla but all the species except Mango, lemon, Carambola and Malta survived and showed least significant result in the most cases while the soil salinity of Agailjara (Ec= 1.40 dS/m) was highly adaptable followed by soils of Morelgong (Ec= 7.92 dS/m) as compared to soils of BAU-GPC, Mymensingh (Ec= 0.13 dS/m). From the household surveys it was found that the survival rate was 58-67% of seven varieties (BAU Mango-1, BAU Mango–5, BAU Mango-6, BAU Lemon-1, BAU Lemon-3, BAU Carambola-1
and BAU Malta-1) out of seventeen due to 100% mortality of those saplings in Mongla for high soil salinity. On the other hand the survival rate was 94-100% of other varieties in the study areas. More than 90% respondents opined that planted BAU fruit varieties exhibited early flowering, fruiting and higher yield. They produced total 4636 no. of saplings through asexual propagation for expansion of those varieties. The above investigation revealed that all the evaluated varieties would be most adaptable to the soil and climatic conditions of Agailjara and Morelgonj regions. Moreover, BAU Guava-1, BAU Guava-2, BAU Guava-5, BAU Jujube-1, BAU Jujube-2, BAU Waxjambu-1, BAU Waxjambu-2, BAU Sapota-1, BAU
Aonla -1 and BAU Hog plum-1 were found to be promising for adaptation to the soil and climatic conditions of Mongla. Therefore, these fruit varieties can be considered for plantation in the similar soil and climatic conditions of the other coastal areas of Bangladesh for green vegetation, nutritional and livelihood improvement of coastal people.