Cape gooseberry
Cape gooseberry is botanically known as Physalis peruviana L. come under Solanaceae family cultivated in South Africa region of Cape of Good Hope during the 19th century (Bravo et al.2015). Cape gooseberry is tetraploid in nature having berry type fruit like a small globe with the diameter around 12.5 to 25.0 millimeters and weight 4 to 10 g, containing around 150 to 300 seeds (Sathyadevi and Subramaniam, 2015:Ramdan 2011). Fruits, especially berries, provide essential benefits because of their high content of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidant (Zhao 2007). Capegoose berry has two species i.e. edulis bearing yellow berries and violacea with fruit of deep purple colour (Rop et al 2012). The fruit colour turns green to orange due to chlorophyll breakdown and carotenoids accumulation and softening(Trinchero et al 1999). Physalis is a climacteric fruit which shows a clear rise in ethylene production during ripening (Osorio et al 2010). Physalis seeds germinate more easily when the temperature lies between 7°C to 13°C at night and 22°C – 28°C during the day(Puente et al 2011). It can grow around 1.0 to 1.5 meters height it can trained up to 2.0 meters height (Paksi et al 2007). It contains an important source of antioxidants.
Cape gooseberry is famous for its flavor and having good blend of acid–sugar (Manal et al 2015). The fruits are attractive in color and show high level of ascorbic acid @ 36mg 100g-1 pulp, rich in Vitamin A @ 1730 IU 100g-1 of pulp, iron @38mg 100g-1 of pulp and phosphorus @1.2 mg 100g-1 of pulp(Olivares Tenorio et al. 2016). The ripe fruits can be used for preparation of excellent quality of jam for which it is also called the ‘Jam Fruit of India (Ali and Singh 2013). Cape goosebeery is known for its horticultural and economic importance due to their high nutritional value, minerals, phosphorus, antioxidants as well as potential medicinal properties of anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer properties(Ali and Singh 2016).
Cape gooseberry is still considered an underutilised crop in India and there was limiting scopes for bringing new area under cultivation due to its more emphasis on increasing the yield per unit area (Gautam et al 2015). Recently this crop has assumed much importance in its cultivation in South Bihar. The yield of this crop is very poor in Bihar due to poor soil nutrients, no definite fertilizer and PGR recommendation, poor technical expertise and poor postharvest technology. Thus, the present study was conducted to identify the genotype for higher yield and better quality attributes.