The genetic similarity among 36 accessions of taro from the Horticultural Germplasm Bank of the Federal University of Viçosa, Brazil, was evaluated. The experiment was conduced from 09/19/2000 to 06/13/2001. The experimental design was a randomized block with five replicates and each plot consisted of four rows spaced 1.0 m apart with four meters in length and 0.5 m between plants within the row. Parameters such as yield of commercial rhizomes/plant; yield of mother rhizomes; large, medium and small lateral rhizomes and non-commercial rhizomes/plant were measured. Data were analyzed using canonical variable and grouped by Tocher's method, adopting general distance of Mahalanobis(D²). The accessions formed six groups. A total of 80.56% of the accessions formed one single group. Accessions BGH 5916, BGH 6137 and BGH 6298 showed good agronomic potential and high genetic diversity compared to other accessions, being indicated for breeding progenitors. Yield of large lateral rhizomes/plant (42.50%), small rhizomes/plant (24.67%) and of commercial rhizomes/plant (16.85%) contributed to increase genetic diversity.
Colocasia esculenta; germplasm; breeding; multivariate analysis; yield
