MSc

Investigations on "Evaluation ef in vitro multiplied accessions of
pineapple (Ananas comosus [L.] Merr.) cv. Mauritius" were carried out in the
Department of Pomology and Floriculture, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara
during 1997-1999. The major objective of the study was to evaluate the field
performance of tissue culture plants of elite accessions against the tissue culture
plants of unselected bulk and conventional suckers under varied fertilizer doses, to
ascertain the superiority of the former over the later two and to isolate the elite
accessions.
During the early stage of crop growth, sucker derived plants recorded
higher values for almost all the vegetative characters studied, whereas from six
months after planting tissue culture plants of elite accessions were on par with
sucker and showed significant superiority over the unselected bulk.
Total dry matter production as well as dry matter partitioning were higher
for tissue culture plants of elite accessions than tissue culture plants of unselected
bulk. The former also showed early flowering with longer flowering phase than the
later. The fruit and yield parameters also showed superiority of tissue culture plants
of elite accessions over that of unselected bulk and the values were on par with
suckers. Among the elite accessions, TK 3 (Ti) and KT 5 (T2) performed well and
recorded the maximum estimated yield (77.0 tonnes), whereas tissue culture plants
of unselected bulk recorded an estimated yield of 49 tonnes only. There was not
much variation among the treatments in all the quality parameters studied, except
for TSS:Acid ratio
All the tissue culture plants including unselected bulk produced more
number of suckers and slips than sucker derived plants.

The salient outcome of the present investigation with respect to two
fertilizer doses was that, M, showed significant superiority and recorded a lesser
crop duration of one month than M\ in all TC plants when compared to that of
suckers.
The results of the present investigation undoubtedly proved the
r-
superiority of elite accessions over that of unselected bulk, indicating the importance
of clonal selection for crop improvement. Results also proved the requirement of
higher dose of fertilizers and split application of the same during early vegetative
stage to boost up the growth of plants and to reduce the total duration of the crop.
Among the elite accessions KT 3 and TK 2 performed well than others and hence
can be recommended for further evaluation and yield trials.