Studies on Variability of Indigenous Mulberry Germplasm on Growth and Leaf Yield

Twenty-five indigenous mulberry germplasm were evaluated for growth and yield traits in a partial balanced lattice design at Central Sericultural Germplasm Resources Centre, Hosur, Tamil Nadu, India. The leaf yield performance showed high variation among the mulberry accessions. Analysis of variance on growth and yield showed significant variation among the accessions for all the traits. Seasonal variation was also observed in respect of leaf yield. The interaction between accession and season was highly significant for all traits. The coefficient of variation was maximum for single leaf weight (36.32%) and minimum for leaf moisture content (2.08%). The correlation coefficient analysis indicated significant association of leaf yield and other growth traits. The number of branches per plant, length of the longest shoot, total shoots length, leaf moisture content and leaf moisture retention capacity showed associations at different levels of significance with leaf yield. Other traits showed complex relationships with each other. Divergence analysis grouped 25 indigenous mulberry accessions into 7 clusters. Maximum accessions were grouped in cluster I (6 ace.) followed by cluster II (5 ace.) V (5 ace.), VII (4 ace.), IV (3 ace.) and minimum one each in cluster 111 and VI. 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. The CIMlIYT selection index shows that mulberry accession M1-04l6 performed better among the accessions studied followed by MI-D308, MI-0376, MI0437 and MI-0310. Other accessions showed higher index value that is less suitable for selection.