Abstract:
Investigations of twelve morphological characters were carried out on the
crop raised at the KAU Banana Research Farm, Kannara. Fifty six dessert varieties of
banana plants were grown in randomised blocks of three replications. The analysis
revealed that all the twelve characters showed high significant difference among
the varieties. All the phenotypic and genotypic correlations of the characters)
with yield were positive. From the path coefficient analysis the character having
maximum contribution to yield is 'weight of hands'. The 'weight of fingers' and
'number of fingers' also influence the yield indirectly. The genetic advance
through discriminant function was found to be less than that through straight
selection. Chenkadali and Red banana were the best two varieties selected through
the method of selection indices.
