Collection, characterization and evaluation of Aloe vera (L.) Burm. f. germplasm

Abstract

The present study titles “Collection, characterization and evaluation of Aloe vera (L) Burm.f.germplasm” was conducted at the Department of Plantation crops and spices, College of Agriculture, Vellayani during the period April 2006 – March 2007.

Thirty diverse accessions of aloe were collected from various locations of Kerala and Tamil Nadu> Preliminary evaluation of reference sample plants of each accession were done in terms of morphological and biochemical characters. A final evaluation of morphological, anatomical and biochemical characters were carried out one year after planting in the new environment and association between morphological, biochemical and yield contributing characters were worked out and the accessions were evaluated based on these results.

The accessions recorded significant variation for morphological characters like plant height, plant spread, leaf length, leaf breadth, leaf thickness, leaf weight, leaf shape, leaf colour, phyllocrone and suckering.

Study of the anatomical characters of the accessions like number of stomata, cuticle thickness, epidermal thickness and mesophyll thickness revealed that there was no significant variation among the accessions with regard to number of stomata and epidermal thickness. Significant difference existed in mesophyll thickness and it was the highest for AV-2 and hence maximum gel yield.

Wide variation in biochemical characters such as amino acids, total sugars, fattyacids, vitamin A and C, saponins, minerals such as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron content and activity of enzymes like peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase were noticed among the thirty accessions.

Yield analysis of the accessions revealed that AV-16, AV-12, AV-2, AV-6, AV-13, AV-30, AV-29, AV-15, AV-9 and AV-7 had superior yield contributing characters. The accessions having superior biochemical characters are AV-5, AV-25, AV-18, AV-23, AV-11, AV-21, AV-24, AV-27, AV-19 and AV-26, hence are superior in quality. By combining yield contributing and quality characters accessions AV-12, AV-16, AV-13, AV-6, AV-15, AV-2, AV-30, AV-19, AV-29 and AV-14 were found to be superior.

The accessions AV-16, AV-12, AV-2 and AV-6 were found superior based on morphological characters and morphological and biochemical characters together. Association between morphological, biochemical and yield contributing characters revealed that morphological characters like plant height, plant spread, leaf length, leaf breadth, leaf thickness and leaf weight showed positive association with leaf yield and latex yield. So these characters offer good scope for selection among the present collection of aloe accessions. A location specific evaluation had to be carried out with these aloe accessions in areas with diverse agro climatic situations for evolving a suitable variety.