Genetic divergence in culinary varieties of banana

Abstract

Thirty culinary varieties of banana grown at the Banana Research Station, Kannara, Kerala were observed for 13 different morphological characters and the data were subjected to analysis of variance. Significant differences were recorded among all the varieties with regard to different morphological characters. By using D2 analysis the varieties were grouped into 12 clusters which were homogeneous within and heterogeneous between. The same clustering pattern was obtained in the canonical analysis except for the variety 'Ashmonthan'. This variety was in the first cluster through canonical analysis. The characters which were contributing maximum towards divergence were bunch weight and hand weight. The characters which were contributing minimum towards divergence were girth and height. The same results were obtained through both the methods.