Morphological diversity in litchi based on phenological traits

Abstract

Twenty-nine quantitative phenological traits were used to assess the morphological diversity among 30 Indian litchi genotypes. Coefficients of variation for length and width of panicle, number of primary and secondary dichasia, the maximum length of primary and secondary dichasia, the maximum and minimum distance between two primary dichasia and origin of several primary dichasia (primary branches on panicle) from the same point, filament length, length and diameter of the anther, number of fruits/cluster and yield/ plant were more than 20%. The number of secondary dichasia was highly correlated with the length of stigma. Similarly, the number of fruits per cluster and yield, fruit weight, and pedicle thickness were also correlated. Genotypes were divided into two main groups corresponding to the panicle size and yield. Cluster-I contained genotypes of comparatively small panicles with a lower yield, while cluster-II comprised larger panicles with a higher yield. From variability analysis, the length and width of the panicle, number of secondary dichasia, the maximum length of primary dichasia, length of male flower, stamen length, the thickness of pedicle, number of fruits/cluster and fruit weight were identified as essential traits for identifying high-yielding genotypes.