Descriptive and multivariate analyses of morphotaxonomic and yield-related traits in inflorescence dichotomous cultivars of Musa species (AAB genome)

Autor: Norah Godwin Ekanem, Godwin Michael Ubi, Ebiamadon Andi Brisibe
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. 68:3357-3372
ISSN: 1573-5109
0925-9864
Popis: Genetic diversity in Musa species (AAB genome) has been collected and conserved in several germplasm banks in different parts of the world. However, not many of these collections contain dichotomous branching accessions which display an incredible amount of phenotypic polymorphisms, arising from the presence of different forms of floral clusters that result in the production of multiple bunches at fruiting. In spite of their fascinating attraction and seductive appeal, the agronomic implications of these genetic resources have been grossly understudied. This investigation, therefore, redresses some of these limitations in knowledge through evaluation of the occurrence and persistence of inflorescence dichotomy during three production cycles in field plots. All inflorescence dichotomous cultivars had a concordance coefficient of less than 100%. Data derived from Poisson distribution further confirmed the randomness of occurrence and non-persistence of the polymorphisms as phenotype reversals was frequently detected, implying that multiple-bunching is a random and unstable genetic trait in plantain. Multivariate data analysis used to classify the plantains demonstrated significant (p ≤ 0.05) differences in agro-morphological traits. Furthermore, the major discriminating traits between and within the cultivars appraised from factor analysis were four yield-related principal components including number of fingers per hand, fingers per bunch, hands per bunch and bunches per plant, which accounted for 73.035% of total variability across all cultivars; that together with firmness of pulp and pulp to peel ratio of the fruits, were the traits of overriding economic and horticultural significance. Collectively, the data presented here provide new paradigms indicating that these yield-related traits could serve as markers for understanding the field performance of inflorescence dichotomous plantain cultivars, which can be used as critical genetic resources for future improvement of this economically important crop.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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