Agro-morphological diversity of plantain accessions from different part of the world

Abstract

The objective of this study was to characterize the agro-morphological diversity of plantain accessions. 18 quantitative variables and 20 qualitative variables were measured. The results of the analysis of the qualitative variables revealed important traits such as black Sigatoka resistance of FHIA 21, Pita 3, M53, Calculta 4 and Banskii accessions and the firm fruit texture of Galeo, Kokor, French sombre and Corne 1 accessions. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) performed with the quantitative variables separated the 9 accessions into 4 groups with particular and important characteristics which can be exploited differently in genetic improvement programme according to the breeding objective. From these results, it appears clearly that the objective is achieved.