Morphometric Diversity of Popular Coconut Cultivars ofSouth Travancore
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Author:S. Selvaraju and V.G. Jayalekshmy
p-ISSN:0024-9602, e-ISSN:2582-5321, Vol:98, Issue:jan-mar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29321/MAJ.10.100230
Abstract
Morphological data on fourteen biometrical traits in thirty palms belonging to six popular
coconut cultivars of south Travancore, via., WCT, Komadan, Laccadive Ordinary, Natural Cross
Dwarf, Chowghat Green Dwarf and Chowghat Orange Dwarf were subjected to genetic analysis.
High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was observed for weight of unhusked
nut, weight of husked nut and number of nuts per palm per year indicating the use of these
characters in selection for improvement. All characters showed positive significant correlation
with direct effect on yield. Cluster analysis showed the nut characters to be superior in
assessing genetic divergence in coconut. The group constellations developed based on D 2
showed that the local cultivar WCT and NCD were clustered together and the well preferred
cultivar Komadan got clustered along with Laccadive Ordinary, the variety of Lakshadweep
released in Kerala as "Chandrakalpa" for its superiority in performance. Maximum divergence
was reported between Komadan and NCD. Komadan was found to be a superior palm on par
with laccadive ordinary. Hybridization between Komadan and WCT and between Komadan and
Dwarf palms is suggested for yielding superior hybrids.
Key words : Genetic analysis, Coconut, Genetic improvement