Short Communication: ‘Crystal’ guava fruit quality in response to altitude variation of growing location

Abstract

‘Crystal’ guava is a popular fruit with high demand due to its delicious taste and super nutritious content. This study aimed to analyze the fruit production and quality of ‘Crystal’ guava in response to different altitudes of growing location, i.e., highland and lowland in the tropics. Ten individual guava trees were maintained in a nested design by small-scale farmers in both lowland (Brajaselebah orchard, 25 m asl) and highland (Gunung Batu orchard, 1000 m asl). The result showed that the altitude of the growing location affected the plant production and fruit quality of ‘Crystal’ guava. Although there was no significant difference in vegetative and generative shoot numbers among the two growing locations, there was a tendency for a dominant generative shoot in highland. Lowland orchards produced a significantly heavier fruit compared to highland orchards. ‘Crystal’ guava tree was able to produce 41 to 46 fruits per tree with a total fruit production of about 8.69 to 9.21 kg per tree. The significantly lower incidence of fruit smoothness in lowland compared to highland was affected by a significantly higher incidence of fruit scars in the lowland. Guava fruit from the lowland had a significantly higher TSS, while fruit from the highland contained a significantly higher vitamin C than lowland.