Morphological characterization of Taro [Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott] germplasm

Abstract

Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L) Schott.) is one of the major tuber crops which have great potential in terms of food and nutritional value. In the present study, 18 accessions of taro were evaluated at Research cum Instruction Farm, S. G. College of Agriculture and Research Station, IGKV, Jagdalpur (C.G.) during kharif 2020 in Randomized block design with three replications. Data were analyzed for 11 quantitative and 17 qualitative characters. A highly significant difference was observed for all characters except no. of stolen and no. of suckers. Undulated leaf blade margin observed in all germplasm and leaf blade colour variegation is absent. Variations were observed in the vegetative and yield components. This study provides details about morphological characters of taro and their use as food, region and season of cultivation. The genetic differences among the genotypes are potentially relevant to breeding programmes in that the variability created through hybridization of the contrasting forms could be exploited.