Genetic Diversity in Banana (Musa spp.)

Twenty eight banana genotypes grown at the Instructional Farm, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala were observed for twenty three different morphological characters and the data were subjected to analysis of variance. Significant differences were recorded among the genotypes with regard to different morphological characters. Twenty eight genotypes of banana were grouped into six clusters following the Tocher’s method of clustering analysis utilizing data on a set of 23 characters related to yield, vegetative characters and quality characters. Koonoor Ethan (cluster VI), Vellapalayankodan (cluster V) and Quintal banana (cluster IV) formed individual clusters and had the maximum genetic divergence. Cluster II had the maximum of 14 genotypes while cluster I and III had 9 and 2 genotypes respectively. The highest mean performance was recorded by cluster VI for13 characters whereas cluster V and IV recorded the same for 7 and 3 characters. The intra and inter cluster genetic distance values ranged from 96 (cluster I) to 150 (cluster III). The maximum inter cluster distance was observed between cluster IV and cluster V (803) followed by cluster VI and cluster I (762). Contribution of individual characters towards divergence recorded that maximum contribution to total divergence was recorded by fingers per hand, shelf life of the fruit, fingers per bunch and finger girth whereas the characters which were contributing minimum towards divergence were leaf width, TSS, pseudostem girth, leaves per plant, suckers per plant, hand weight, pulp/peel ratio, fruit volume and acidity.