Genetic variability in international provenances of Casuarina equisetifolia L. Warrier Kannan CS*, Vamadevan T. ICFRE - Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Forest Campus, PB 1061, RS Puram Post, Coimbatore, Tami Nadu, India *E-Mail: kannan@icfre.org
Online Published on 22 January, 2024. Abstract Casuarina equisetifolia, the most commonly grown species of Casuarina in India, is mainly used for pulpwood, scaffolding, poles, fuelwood and stakes for banana crop. It is most suited for agrarian ecosystems due to many favourable characteristics like desirable stem form and fast growth. It is one among the non-leguminous nitrogen fixing tree species also. In India, tremendous variations are documented for tree species in different states. Wide variations were observed when 23 international provenances of C. equisetifolia infused from CSIRO, Australia were subjected to multi-location field testing. Among the three primary characters which contribute directly towards volume growth, diameter at breast height showed higher degree of variation than total height in all the provenances. Volume index recorded the maximum genotypic coefficient of variation followed by frustum volume in all the provenances at 3 years of age. Tree height registered the lowest value for GCV and PCV. Among the various characters studied, frustum volume recorded the maximum heritability (0.24) followed by diameter at breast height, basal diameter and volume index (0.20). The lowest value was for tree height (0.05). Mahalanobis’ D2 statistics followed by Tocher’s clustering method grouped the 23 provenances of C. equisetifolia into 9 clusters with cluster strength varying from one (clusters 8 and 9) to eight (cluster 4). Clusters 4,5,7 and 9 registered higher mean values for frustum volume and volume index. Based on the genetic variability studies, it is concluded that provenances 18141 Kenya, 18378 QLD, 18298 Thailand, 18344 Malaysia, Mixed Seedlot India, 18586 China and 18355 Benin could be the potential candidates for future breeding programmes. Top Keywords Casuarina equisetifolia, Variability Studies, Genetic Divergence, Tree Breeding. Top |