Variability studies for yield and yield attributing characters in Palmyrah accessions (Borassus flabellifer L.) under Killikulam condition of Tamil Nadu

Palmyrah (Borassus flabellifer L.), the state tree of Tamil Nadu of south India is grown for its multitude of food and economic uses. Breeding efforts in this crop is minimal due to its very long duration to maturity and dioecious nature. We aim to fill this gap by first studying the variability and fruiting behaviour in 16 genotypes of the 265 germplasms being maintained under the ICAR-All India Coordinated Research Project in Plantation Crops at the Department of Horticulture, VOC Agricultural College and Research Institute, Killikulam, Tamil Nadu, India. These palmyrah accessions were collected from different states of India viz., Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha. Nine fruit morphology characters were observed on the accessions and used to assess the diversity. Wide variability was observed for the different traits studied. Number of fruits ranged from 12 (acc.252) to 410 (acc.41). The highest fruit weight (1.440 kg), flesh weight with epicarp (0.605 kg) and nut weight per fruit (0.835 kg) was recorded in the accession no. 41. Accession 3 recorded highest weight per nut (0.182 kg). Similarly, variation in other fruit traits was observed. High heritability of these traits indicated the suitability of selection in this population. The selected germplasm accessions will be used as parents in further breeding programmes.