Diversity Analysis Using Morphological Characteristics of ‘Katuray’ (Sesbania grandiflora L.) in La Union Province, Philippines

Hummingbird (Sesbania grandiflora L.), commonly known as ‘katurai’ or ‘katuray’ is an underutilized leguminous crop that contributes significantly to national food security and the livelihoods of small-scale farmers in the developing world. Despite its potential economic significance, it has not been fully known in La Union Province due to a lack of information on the genetic background of the cultivated landraces. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to assess the morphological diversity of 40 ‘katuray’ accessions in La Union province using morphological characters. A total of 15 qualitative traits and 13 quantitative traits were assessed. The qualitative traits showed intermediate diversity with an average diversity index of H’=0.39, whereas the quantitative traits have an average diversity index of H’=0.63. Among 15 qualitative traits, 4 traits scored high diversity, namely, height of mature tree (H’=0.66), tree growth habit (H’=0.86), midrib color (H’=0.95), and flower color (H’=0.97). Meanwhile, most of the quantitative traits showed intermediate to high diversity among ‘katuray’ accessions. This is supported by the result of the Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic mean (UPGMA), which generated a dendrogram that distinctly grouped the 40 ‘katuray’ accessions into six major clusters based on qualitative and quantitative morphological traits. Unique characteristics were also determined, namely, red and pink color of flower, and the black in seed color. The preliminary results of this study revealed that ‘katuray’ accessions in La Union province are diverse. Keywords: diversity, legumes, morphology, mapping, underutilized crop