Morphological characterization of above ground characters of taro [Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott.] from North East India

Abstract

Taro [Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott], belonging to the family Araceae, is a major tuber crop grown in the tropical and sub-tropical regions. It is reported to possess medicinal values in addition to being a rich source of carbohydrates, proteins and vitamins. As the North Eastern states of India are regarded to be one of the primary centers of origin of taro, a considerable level of diversity is expected among these accessions. Therefore, the present study attempts to morphologically characterize 25 taro accessions collected from different North Eastern states of India using 27 above ground characters based on a combination of NBPGR/IPGRI descriptors. PCA analysis revealed 3 principal components revealing 67.7% of the variability. The dendrogram generated using the R statistical package grouped the accessions into 2 broad clusters, which were further divided into 2 and 5 sub-clusters, respectively. It was also observed that geographically similar accessions were grouped under different clusters. In addition to supporting breeding and germplasm conservation programmes, the data can serve as a baseline for correlation with other types of markers.