A study on dragon fruit varieties and effects of fertilizers on yield and quality of dragon fruit (hylocereus undatus)

Abstract

A study on Dragon fruit variety and effects of fertilizer on yield and quality of Dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus) was conducted at Rajamangala University of Technology Suvarnabhumi, Huntra, Ayutthaya from October 2008 to October 2012. The soil type condition was a clayey type (59% clay) containing very low amount of organic matter (0.79%), low phosphorus (3 ppm) but very high potassium (230 ppm). There were 12 varieties of Dragon fruit collected from all over Thailand for growth study and yield trial. It was found that the variety from Rayong Province which originally introduced from Vietnam gave the maximum yield (4164.25 kg/rai/year). Application of chemical fertilizer at the rate of 0, 300, 600 and 900 g/trellis/year was carried out to study the effects of fertilizer on growth and yield of Dragon fruit. The results have shown that the application of chemical fertilizer at the rate of 900 and 600 g/trellis/year gave better growth, more flowers and fruits per trellis which resulted in maximum yield; 4230.75 and 4185.50 kg/rai/year, respectively. The fertilizer application resulted in decreasing the texture firmness and total soluble solids but increasing the vitamin C content.