EVALUATION OF BANANA (Musa SPP.) GENOTYPES FOR MOISTURE STRESS TOLERANCE

A. REKHA¹, V. RAMANJINAPPA²*
¹Division of Fruit Crops, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta Lake Post, Bangalore, 5600 089, Karnataka
²Division of Fruit Crops, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta Lake Post, Bangalore, 5600 089, Karnataka
* Corresponding Author : ramanjivka@gmail.com

Received : 19-08-2016     Accepted : 20-09-2016     Published : 01-11-2016
Volume : 8     Issue : 53       Pages : 2673 - 2677
Int J Agr Sci 8.53 (2016):2673-2677

Keywords : Banana germplasm, moisture stress, Stress recovery, Screening
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : The authors are thankful to PI, NICRA Project, IIHR for providing facilities to carry out the above research.
Author Contribution : None declared

India stands first in area and production of banana. It is cheapest source of energy, which is available throughout the year. It requires uniformly warm and moist conditions for optimum growth and development. Some reviews have revealed that a temperature below 10ºC and above 38ºC has affected the growth of the banana plants. In the present investigation the experiment was done with three categories viz., i) with well watered, ii) stress imposition (withholding water) and iii) recovery in well watered condition. The observations on 21 morphological parameters were recorded in all the categories of the experiment. In the first category of experiment, the morphological traits like shoot length, pseudostem girth, petiole length, leaf length, leaf weight, percent leaf moisture loss after 48 hrs, constant dry weight at 80ºC, total plant weight, shoot weight and root traits like number of roots, root girth, percent moisture loss after 24 hours and after 48 hours in roots showed significant difference, while number of leaves, leaf breadth and percent leaf moisture loss after 24 hrs, total leaf weight, root weight, root volume, root length and constant dry weight at 80ºC were non-significant. In the second category of the experiment, during water stress more number of green leaves was observed in cultivars Adukkankunnan (AB), Karibale (AAB), Rasthali (AAB) and wild Musa balbisianatani (BB) indicating their tolerance to water stress. Less number of green leaves or absence of green leaves was observed in wild Amturkela (BB), cultivars Neypoovan (AB), Petitnaine (AAA), Palayankodan (AAB) and Pisang Jari Buya (AA) indicating their sensitivity to water stress. In third category of experiment that is, during recovery all characters showed significant difference except, the characters like percent leaf moisture loss after 24 hours and 48hours, which had non-significant differences.