A Comparative Assessment Of Taro{Colocasia Esculenta L. (Schott)} Phenotypic Corms/Cormels Characteristics Among Kenya And Tarogen Core Taro Collections For Taro Crop Improvement And Breeding

Abstract

Determination of qualitative phenotypic taro cormels characters were scored based on the key International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) descriptors for taro (IPGRI, 1999). Twenty five taro germplasm each from Kenya and Tarogen core taro collections from Pacific Island Communities were used for this research study. These characteristics were as follows: Corm shape, Corm cortex color; Corm flesh color; Number of sprouting suckers; Corm sucker length; Corm weight; Corm length; Corm diameter; Number of cormels; Corm branching and cormel root colour. Shannon’s Diversity Index was used to calculate the diversity for the qualitative characters that showed polymorphism in various traits. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze cormels genotypic agronomic performance among Kenyan and the Pacific Islands tarogen collections. The analyses of variance were tested at 0.05 level of significance. In Kenya, the corm characters with highest diversity value were corm shape (1.399), corm cortex color (1.204) and corm flesh color (0.973) while Tarogen core taro collections from Pacific Islands community showed similar variations with the corm shape leading with diversity value of 1.357. The application of analysis of variance test at (p>0.00) revealed a significant difference between corms/cormels and yields of taro accessions with reference to taro genotype performance characters and yields. These findings have shown that there exists a high significant difference between taro genotype agronomic cormels characters and yields between Kenya and PITCs taro collections. The application of analysis of variance test at (p>0.00) revealed a significant difference between taro cormels characters with reference to yield performances.