VARIETAL TRIAL OF MULBERRY TREES (MORUS ALBA LOIDS) UNDER MSU CONDITIONS
Keywords:
Not AvailableAbstract
A total of 90 mulberry plants were used in the study composed of five varieties of Type B, Type F, Type C, Brazilian and Costa Rican, plus a control, all replicated three times in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) experiment to determine growth and adaptability in terms of height, number of leaves, size of leaves circumference, stem circumference, disease and pests resistance.
Results showed significantly (PC .01) Type B to be tallest in height at 933.33 mm, followed by Type F at 718.33 mm, Type C at 661.66 mm, Brazilian
at 643.33 mm, and Costa Rican at 520 mm. The control had the shortest height at 400 mm.
More leaves of 131.66 pieces were obtained from Type B variety compared to 92, 75, 61 and 56 pieces for Brazilian, Type F, Type C and Costa Rican, respectively. No significant difference was noted between the control and Type C varieties. Broader leaves were significant (P L .05) in Type F variety at 146.66 mm followed by 141.33 mm, 140 mm, 125 mm and 74.33 mm from Type C, Costa Rican, Type B and Brazilian varieties, respectively. The control showed a small size of leaves at 61.83 mm. The size of the stem circumference revealed no significant differences between Type B and Type C varieties at 22.33 mm and 21.66 mm, respectively. No significant differences were observed between the control and the Brazilian varieties at 7.0 mm and 8.66 mm, respectively.
The type B and Type C varieties were the most resistant to Twig Blight, POWdery Mildew and Mosaic diseases of mulberry plants, followed by the Brazilian and Costa Rican varieties. The control showed the least resistance to disease. The same finding was observed in the occurrence of common pests such as the Mulberry Tiger Moth, Mulberry Scales and Mulberry Borer.
