Cultivation

Cultivars

There are several different cultivars of chicozapote, differing in such characters as fruit size and shape, the texture, color and taste of the flesh, the number of seeds, and the timing of fruit maturity (Kute and Shete 1995). Some of the popular cultivars in India are Kalipatti, Cricket Ball and Oval, but many others are grown, including: Co.1, Co.2, Badam, Calcutta Round, Bangalore, Baramasi, Bhuri, Dwarapudi, Gouranga, Guthi, Kirtibarti, Singapore, and Round (Chadha 1992, Chundawat and Bhuva 1982, Morton 1987, Rokhade et al. 1989). Attempts have been made to improve fruit quality by hybridizing the different cultivars (Rokhade et al. 1989), with modest results. Popular cultivars in Florida include: Brown sugar, Modello, Russell, Prolific, Seedless, Boetzberg, Larsen and Tikal (Campbell et al. 1987, Chadha 1992, Morton 1987, Velez-Colon et al. 1989). In Mexico, SCH-02, -03, -07, -08 and ?28 are the main cultivars in cultivation (Morton 1987). Several varieties were tested in Puerto Rico by Velez-Colon et al. (1989), and the best varieties were Larsen, Russell, Jamaica 5, Prolific, Morning Star and Timothe. Since growers of chicozapote in different countries do not interact regularly, it is not known if all of these cultivars are distinct, or if they are synonyms (Chadha 1992).