Genetic variability studies in ecotypes of banana (Musa AAB plantain subgroup)

The study was under taken in the Department of Fruit Science, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Kerala with the objective to assess the Genotypic Coefficient of Variation (GCV), Phenotypic Coefficient of Variation (PCV), genetic advance and heritability associated with yield and yield attributing characters. The study revealed that considerable variability existed between different ecotypes of plantain. Number of fingers exhibited the highest GCV (36.93%) and PCV (37.04%) among the yield and yield attributing characters computed. Heritability was high for all the characters except girth of pseudostem. Genetic advance was high for all the characters except plant height, pseudostem girth, number of leaves and girth of finger. The association analysis revealed that bunch weight was significantly and positively correlated with number of hands and fingers/bunch, pedicel strength index, plant height, pseudostem girth and total crop duration both at genotypic and phenotypic levels. Characters like number of fingers and bunch weight with high heritability coupled with high genetic gain could be used for selection based crop improvement programmes to develop high yielding Nendran types.