Morfološki diverzitet i PCA genotipova šećerne trske (Saccharum officinarum L.) u Finchaa Sugar Estate, Etiopija

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the extent of morphological variation, cluster the genotypes into relatively homogenous groups and to identify the major characters contributing to the overall diversity of 22 exotic sugarcane genotypes at Finchaa Sugar Estate. The experimental design used was RCBD laid in three replications. Quantitative traits such as number of internodes, millable stalk, plant height, stalk girth, single cane weight, cane yield, brix percent juice, pol percent, sugar recovery percentage and sugar yield were investigated. ANOVA indicated the existence of high phenotypic and genetic diversity between genotypes for all quantitative traits studied which could be utilized for further sugarcane improvement. The principal component analysis for the genotypes exhibited variance of 43.12%, 18.8% and 13.71% for the first three categories and accounts about 75.63% of the total variation and the juice quality traits showed greater loading for the variation in the first principal component category. Cluster analysis grouped genotypes in to five distinct classes with maximum number of genotypes (7) in cluster II and minimum (1) in cluster V. In the first cluster six sugarcane genotypes were included this accounted 27.27% of the investigated materials which had been categorized by high cane length and single stalk weight. The second cluster which accounts 31.82% of the materials were characterized by lower cane length and single stalk weight. Recoverable sugar percent had almost zero correlation with cane length, millable stalk count and sugar yield (r= 0.02, 0.02 and-0.01 respectively) indicating the possibility of simultaneous improvement of these traits.