Clones of taro, from the Germoplasm Bank of the Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Brazil, were agronomically characterized. The experiment was carried out from 19/09/2000 to 13/07/2001, in a randomized complete block design, with 36 treatments (clones) and five replicates. The experimental unit was comprised of four rows spaced 1.0 m apart, with four meters in length. The distance between plants in the row was 0.5 m. We evaluated the average commercial rhizome weight; number of commercial rhizomes/plant; total and commercial rhizome yield; format ratio (longitudinal/transversal diameter) of the commercial production, and rhizomes classification according to the transversal diameter (large offspring >47 mm; medium offspring = 40-47 mm; small offspring = 33-40 mm; and discard < 33 mm). Clones BGH 5916, BGH 6137, and BGH 6298 presented good rhizome shape (ratio between 1.1 and 1.7) and higher values of mean corm fresh commercial weight, commercial and total yields. These clones did not differ from BGH 5925 (Japanese), presenting significantly higher values than BGH 5928 (Chinese), the two most common taros grown in Brazil. Clones BGH 6307 and BGH 6308, presented slightly inferior commercial corm fresh weight than BGH 5916, BGH 6298, and BGH 6137. However, due to the higher commercial rhizomes number/plant, the commercial and total yields were similar. Correlation was positive and significant between average commercial corm fresh weight per plant (0.6370 and 0.7450), number of commercial corm per plant (0.7133 and 0.5338), and yield of large corm offspring (0.9107 and 0.9451), when compared to commercial and total yields, respectively; between yield of commercial (0.9455) and of mother corm (0.8753) when compared to total yield; between commercial mean corm fresh weight (0.8519) when compared to yield of large offspring. Primary components presenting high positive correlation in comparison to commercial yield were: commercial mean corm fresh weight, number of commercial corm per plant and yield of large offspring.
Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott; dasheen; clone; yield; mean corm fresh weight
