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Sidama, Gamogofa, Dauro, Gurage, Wolita Zones |
Various (Areka Agricultural Research Centre) |
Genetic Resources & Diversity |
Study Design:?122 named enset accessions from five geographical zones of Southern Ethiopia (Sidama, Gamogofa, Dauro, Gurage, Wolita) maintained at Areka Agricultural Research Centre. Each landrace had four individual plants.?Traits Analyzed:?Eight quantitative agro-morphological traits: plant height, pseudostem height, leaf numbers, pseudostem circumference, granted corm, maturity period (years from planting till flowering), bulla yield, and fibre yield.?Cluster Analysis:?Based on Manhattan similarity matrix and dendrogram with hierarchal complete linkage cluster analysis, all 122 accessions were grouped into 11 clusters.?Diversity Pattern:?Highest genetic diversity revealed from enset accessions of Gamogofa and Gurage zones.?PCA Results:?First three principal components accounted for 77% of total variation. Weight of corm granted, fibre yield, pseudostem circumference, maturity period, leaf numbers, and bulla yield were among the most important morphological descriptors accounting for more than 50% of variation.?Correlation:?Significant and positive correlation among yield component characters; maturity period showed negative and highly significant correlation to enset yield at P>0.001.?Key Finding:?The study demonstrates the existence of substantial phenotypic diversity among enset accessions from different zones, with Gamogofa and Gurage zones showing the highest diversity. |
Bekele et al. 2013 |