The fruits of Diospyros blancoi A. DC., commonly known as velvet apple or mabolo, vary greatly in size. The aims of our study are to clarify the feasibility of large fruit selection and investigate the parthenocarpic nature of mabolo in order to better understand the potential applicability of mabolo in large and seedless fruit production. To conduct an initial selection for large fruits in Taiwan, three individuals (code named SYD, KKN, and YKC) with an average fruit size of more than 200 g were selected. The largest fruits were collected from SYD, the fruit had an average weight of 218.6 +/- A 61.9 g and an average pulp weight of 193.8 +/- A 55.1 g (after deducting the weight of seeds). These results were significantly different from those recorded for the entire population, which had an average fruit weight of 103.9 +/- A 34.0 g and pulp weight of 78.6 +/- A 29.1 g (after deducting the weight of seeds). As in persimmons (Diospyros kaki Thunb.), parthenocarpic seedless fruits can also be obtained in D. blancoi through manipulation. Parthenocarpic seedless fruits were induced in SYD using either bagging or the stigma removal method. The fruit-set rate and average fruit weights were 49 % and 122.6 +/- A 24.7 g, and 76 % and 109.3 +/- A 18.7 g for bagging and the stigma removal method, respectively. SYD fruits had not only fewer seeds and lesser seed weight but also the highest average pulp weight compared to the other two selections, showing that D. blancoi has good parthenocarpy nature and SYD has the best large fruit characteristic for potential commercialization of mabolo.
