PERFORMANCE OF SOME INDIGENOUS GERMPLASMS OF TOSSA JUTE (Corchorus olitorius L.)

Abstract

Forty one indigenous genotypes of tossa jute (Corchorus olitorius L.) including three cultivated varieties were evaluated for comparati ve mean performance against nine di fferent morphological characters and growth rate at the Central Jute Agricultural Experiment Station, Jagir, Manikganj of Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI) during April to September 2007. Data were recorded on fibre yield and yield contributing characters viz. plant height, base diameter, number of nodes per plant, internode length, leaf area, green weight with leaves per plant, green weight without leaves per plant and stick weight per plant. Signi ficant variation was observed among the genotypes tested in respect of all the characters except internode length. The genotypes GI (Ace. No, 1232), Gl3 (Ace, No. 2541) and G21 (Ace, No. 2717) gave higher fibre yield (8.59g, 8.53g and 8.20g, respectively) compared with the check varieties 0-9897, OM-I and 0-72 indicating the possibility of 'Using them in future breeding programs. The genotypes G41 (Ace, No. 3907), GI (Ace. No. 1232) and G32 (Ace, No. 3413) showed considerably higher growth rate (35.46%, 19.73% and 19.09%, respectively) between 90 to 105 days of emergence, which indicated that selection of fast growing genotypes between 90 to 105 days of emergence would be more effective and judicious.