Pantnagar Journal of Research

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out to characterize the guava (Psidium guajava) germplasm at morphological level and to identify the promising F₁ hybrid amongst 15 hybrids using morphological traits. Observations were recorded for different traits viz., leaf characters like length and width of leaf, length to width ratio, leaf area, shape of leaf, shape of leaf apex and base, colour of leaves during winter, lamina thickness, pubescence, number of leaves, young leaf anthocyanin colouration, texture of leaves, colour of upper and lower surface and plant characters like plant height, stem girth and colour of young stem during winter season. Results revealed that significant variations were present with reference to various morphological characteristics amongst the 25 genotypes. On the basis of morphological description, the germplasm Hissar Safeda × Sardar was quite different and superior. Considering shape of leaf, shape of leaf apex and base and leaf colour during winters, these leaf morphological characters were quite informative and useful in characterizing these genotypes, as some genotypes could easily be identified using a combination of these characters