Studies on the Variability of Indigenous Mulberry Germplasm for Growth and Yield Traits
M.C. Thriveni *
Central Sericultural Germplasm Resources Centre, Central Silk Board, Govt. of India, Ministry of Textiles, Thally road, Hosur-635 109, India.
G.R. Halagunde Gowda
Agricultural Statistics & Forecasting Section, Central Silk Board, BTM Layout, Madiwala, Bengaluru- 560 068, India.
G. Thanavendan
Central Sericultural Germplasm Resources Centre, Central Silk Board, Govt. of India, Ministry of Textiles, Thally road, Hosur-635 109, India.
N. Sakthivel
Central Sericultural Germplasm Resources Centre, Central Silk Board, Govt. of India, Ministry of Textiles, Thally road, Hosur-635 109, India.
V. Nishitha Naik
Central Sericultural Germplasm Resources Centre, Central Silk Board, Govt. of India, Ministry of Textiles, Thally road, Hosur-635 109, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Twenty two indigenous mulberry accessions were evaluated for growth and yield traits in three seasons. ANOVA on growth and yield showed significant variation among the accessions for the traits. The interaction between accession and season was highly significant for all traits. The co-efficient of variation was maximum for single leaf weight (17.08%) and minimum for total shoot length (0.08%). The divergence analysis grouped 22 indigenous mulberry accessions into 5 clusters. Maximum accessions were grouped in clusters I & II (8 acc.) followed by cluster V (4 acc.). The diversity among the accessions measured by inter-cluster distance (D2) showed variation. The cluster group indicates that mulberry accessions were distributed in different clusters irrespective of geographical distribution.
Keywords: Mulberry, variability, indigenous germplasm, growth and yield traits