Abstract
The study was conducted to characterize and evaluate the agronomic potentials of eight Musa accessions in Ebonyi State University Musa field genebank. Qualitative descriptors were used to characterize the genotypes, while eight growth and yield traits were evaluated. Results indicated that the accessions were similar in thirteen characteristics, but differed in nine traits including pseudostem/foliage pigmentation, pseudostem/foliage waxiness, pseudostem blotching, petiole margin clasping, peduncle hairiness, persistence of neutral flowers, persistence of male bract, pulp colour of unripe fruit, and pulp colour of ripe fruit. Analysis of variance results indicated significant differences among the accessions for all the agronomic traits except fruit circumference. In terms of bunch weight, SH 3436 yielded the heaviest bunch (12.45 kg), followed by FHIA 25 (10.03 kg) and FHIA 17 (8.43 kg), respectively. These three genotypes were all banana hybrid varieties and may have adapted well to the climatic conditions of Abakaliki in southeast agro-ecological zone.
Key words: Germplasm, hybridization, Musa species, qualitative descriptors.