Evaluation of clonal variation in banana musa spp. (aab group) 'rasthali'

Abstract

The study entitled ‘Evaluation of clonal variation in banana Musa spp. (AAB group) ‘Rasthali’’ was carried out at Banana Research Station, Kannara during May 2017- July 2018 with the objective to conduct survey in central parts of Kerala and assess the natural variability in Rasthali clones of banana. Clones collected from Palakkad and Thrissur districts along with clones maintained at BRS, Kannara were planted in randomized block design with three replications. The clones were characterized based on IPGRI descriptor for banana. The analysis of variance revealed that significant variation for characters like plant height, plant girth, length of leaf, width of leaf, total leaf area/ plant, length of petiole, number of leaves and functional leaves, duration of vegetative phase, shoot to harvest duration, total crop duration, bunch length, bunch weight, number of hands/ bunch, number of fingers/ hands, fruit weight, fruit length, fruit girth, TSS, total sugars, sugar-acid ratio, fruit peel thickness, pulp-peel ratio and shelf life of ripe fruits at ambient conditions. Plant height, plant girth, total leaf area/ plant at bunch emergence stage and total crop duration were highest for Veneer Poovan and highest yield was obtained for Veneer Poovan, Valiya Poovan and Marthaman. Valiya Poovan recorded greatest fruit length, fruit girth and fruit weight. The quality parameters like TSS, total sugars and sugar- acid ratio were recorded highest in Marthaman whereas fruit peel thickness and shelf life were high in Andhra Poovan and, highest pulp- peel ratio in Veneer Poovan. Highest genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation were observed for fruit weight. High heritability coupled with genetic gain was observed in all characters except number of hands per bunch, bunch length and bunch weight. The character fruit weight with high value for GCV, PCV and heritability, coupled with genetic gain can be used for direct selection and further breeding programmes. Total crop duration, fruit length, number of fingers per hand, fruit weight, plant girth and fruit girth had showed positive direct effect on bunch weight per plant while, plant height, bunch length and number of hands per bunch showed negative direct effect on bunch weight. Organoleptic evaluation revealed that highest mean score for taste, texture, sweetness, flavour, colour and overall acceptability of fruits was in Marthaman which also recorded high TSS, total sugars, sugar- acid ratio and less acidity. Lowest mean scores for sweetness, flavour, overall acceptability and taste were observed in Cheriya Poovan. Score for colour and texture were minimum in Veneer Poovan. The present study revealed that, based on yield, quality parameters and organoleptic evaluation, Marthaman was the best.