Genetic Diversity in Banana (Musa spp.)
Abstract
Twenty eight banana genotypes grown at the Instructional Farm, College of Agriculture,Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala were observed for twenty three different morphologicalcharacters and the data were subjected to analysis of variance. Significant differences wererecorded among the genotypes with regard to different morphological characters. Twentyeight genotypes of banana were grouped into six clusters following the Tocher’s method ofclustering analysis utilizing data on a set of 23 characters related to yield, vegetative charactersand quality characters. Koonoor Ethan (cluster VI), Vellapalayankodan (cluster V) and Quintalbanana (cluster IV) formed individual clusters and had the maximum genetic divergence.Cluster II had the maximum of 14 genotypes while cluster I and III had 9 and 2 genotypesrespectively. The highest mean performance was recorded by cluster VI for13 characterswhereas cluster V and IV recorded the same for 7 and 3 characters. The intra and intercluster genetic distance values ranged from 96 (cluster I) to 150 (cluster III). The maximuminter cluster distance was observed between cluster IV and cluster V (803) followed bycluster VI and cluster I (762). Contribution of individual characters towards divergence recordedthat maximum contribution to total divergence was recorded by fingers per hand, shelf life ofthe fruit, fingers per bunch and finger girth whereas the characters which were contributingminimum towards divergence were leaf width, TSS, pseudostem girth, leaves per plant,suckers per plant, hand weight, pulp/peel ratio, fruit volume and acidity.
