Genotypic Effects on Morphological Characterization of Fruit Traits in Mulberry

Abstract

The research was conducted to evaluate the morphological variability in fruits traits among the mulberry genotypes grown in Mulberry Germplasm Bank of Bangladesh Sericulture Research and Training Institute (BSRTI), Rajshahi, during 2018–2020. The aim of the research was to find out the genotypes accessibility for varietal improvement. Total 50 mulberry genotypes were morphologically characterized on fruit traits through this research. The experimental design was Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications and the plantation system was high bush. Each plot consists of 20 plants and unit plot size was 4 m × 5 m. Fruit colour, fruit taste and seed colour was determined. Nine distinct fruit colours such as reddish-black (23.33%), black-berry (18.33%), cream (10%), black (8.33%), white-cream (6.67%), pink (6.67%), pinkish (3.33%), orange (3.33%) and radish (1.67%) were observed among several germplasms. Remarkable variation was found in fruit taste such as sour sweet (28.33%), sweet (21.67%), light sweet (5%), light-sour sweet (5%) and deep sweet (5%), respectively. Five colored of seed viz: light yellow, light brown, yellowish brown, dark brown and blackish brown were observed among the germplasm. Length of the fruit diverse from 0.73 (BSRM-8) to 5.58 (BSRM-56 and widthfrom 0.52 (BSRM-8) to1.9 (BSRM-56),single fruit weight varied from 0.07 (BSRM-8) to 4.11 (BSRM-56), fruit weight per plant varied from 101.47 (BSRM-11) to 2250.43 (BSRM-56), seed setting (%) varied from 8.13 (BSRM-29) to 94.24 (BSRM-16), sprouting (%) varied from 36.67 (BSRM-22) to 96.67 (BSRM-38), rooting (%) varied from 13.89 (BSRM-22) to 98.33 (BSRM-10),achene number/fruit varied from 12.53 (BSRM-10) to118.10 (BSRM-56), seed number/fruit varied from 2.99 (BSRM-8) to 47.86 (BSRM-56) and 100 seed weight varied from 0.019 (BSRM-35) to 0.166 (BSRM-56), respectively. Results showed that the black-berry, sweet tasted fruited mulberry (BSRM-56), cream colored, sweet tasted fruited mulberry (BSRM-1) and white cream, sweet tasted fruited mulberry (BSRM-34) was promising on the basis of greatest fruit production potential to be appears for further commercial utilization. Generally, a wide range of variation was exhibited among the sampled and characterized genotypes.