Performance of Different Radish (Raphanus sativus L.) Varieties in Black Soils of Vidharbha-Maharashtra

The present study was carried out at ‘Chilli and Vegetable Research Unit’, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, Maharashtra, India during winter season of 2013-14 to investigate growth, yield and qualitative parameters of various radish varieties. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design (R.B.D.) with seven treatments and three replications. Seven varieties of radish, used for the study as treatments were viz., V1- Pusa Desi, V2-PusaChetki, V3- Pusa Reshmi, V4- Pusa Himani,V5- Japanese White, V6- Arka Nishant and V7- IHR-1-1. The plant height was supreme (28.29 cm) in Arka Nishant, maximum chlorophyll content of leaves (3.10 mg g-1) recorded in Arka Nishant. The variety Arka Nishant required minimum (43 days) number of days, in weight of total fresh weight of plant (190.06 g to 226.60 g) were observed. It was maximum in variety Arka Nishant, whereas, minimum in variety Pusa Desi. The variations in fresh weight of root (122.76 g to 161.74 g) were observed. The maximum root to shoot ratio (1.37) was observed in variety Arka Nishant. The values of root diameter were maximum (3.69 cm) in variety Arka Nishant. The maximum root yield plot-1 (32.34 kg plot-1) and hectare-1 (53.91 t ha-1) was produced in variety Arka Nishant. The maximum moisture content of root (97.75%) was recorded in Arka Nishant variety. The ascorbic acid content was maximum (18.36 mg 100 g-1), TSS (4.00 0B) was recorded in the variety Arka Nishant.