ABSTRACT

Five accessions labeled NHCO3, NHCO25, NHCO26, BN/OD/O1 and ON/OD/02 of Corchorus L. (Malvaeae) obtained from National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT), Ibadan, Nigeria and home gardens in Benin City and Owo were evaluated in the University of Benin, Benin City. Primary data were obtained based on eleven qualitative and nine quantitative agro-morphological characters. These characters include: growth features of stem and leaves, plant height days to 50% germination, days to 50% flowering, days to 50% fruiting, number of leaves, leaf area, fresh leaf weight per plant, whole plant weight and harvest index ratio. The result shows that leaf characters were significant especially in shape and margin serration. All quantitative characters examined were highly variable and statistically significant at P<0.05 except for harvest ratio. Plant height varied from (4.55-66.03) cm for NHCO3 (5.3-43.93) cm, NHCO25 (6.46-69.13) cm, NHCO26 (5.85-69.8) cm, BN/OD/01 and (6.5-83.17) cm in ON/OD/02. Accessions NHCO26 and NHCO25 had 6.33 ± 0.33 and 9.00 ± 0.57 days to 50 % germination respectively. Accession NHCO26 had the longest days to flowering, with average days of 85.33 ± 0.67. Numbers of leaves for the accessions at week twelve were as follow: 81.00 ± 4.45 for NHC03, 53.53 ± 6.64 in NHC025, 119 ± 9.54 in NHC026, 67.67 ± 11.62 in BN/OD/01 and 47.33 ± 9.60 in ON/OD/02. The whole plant biomass weight and leaf area were highest in NHC026 with a value of 67.38 ± 4.11 g and 60.07 ± 1.95 cm². Results from these primary data were standardized and subjected to principal component analysis (PCA). PC axes 1, 2, and 3 showed 96.00 % variability among the accessions studied. Characters accounting for this genetic variability include: days to 50% flowering, days to 50% fruiting, fresh leaf weight per plant, whole plant weight, leaf area, number of leaves. Single linkage cluster analysis was accessed to group accessions based on similarities and differences in characters. A resulting dendrogram revealed three clustering groups, with accession NHCO26, accession NHC03, BN/OD/01 and ON/OD/02 and accession NHC025 respectively. Based on these assessments, accession NHC025 and NHC026 were suggested the most distinct and diverse of all the accessions. These accessions may serve as a source of variability in character for Corchorus germplasm improvement. Similarly, characters, such as plant height and leaf serration are recommended as characters that could account for distinctiveness of species during specific exploration and collection of Nigerian Corchorus.