Characterization and Agronomic Evaluation of Naturally Occurring Short-statured Saba Banana in the Philippines

One of the major constraints in the Philippine banana chips industry is the lack of steady supply of raw materials for sustained production operation. The current cultivar, Saba, is tall and bears first fruits in almost two years after planting. This study was conducted to characterize the putative short-statured Saba germplasm assembled at the national repository, identify promising accessions based on agro-morphological traits, and evaluate their performance in replicated trials. Nineteen (19) Saba accessions were characterized morphologically using 17 qualitative and 17 quantitative descriptors. Characterization data revealed an intermediate genetic variation within the collection. The computed Shannon-Weaver diversity index ranged from 0.13 (pseudostem color) to 0.85 (wing type). Further analysis of the quantitative data grouped the accessions into six morphological clusters based on HCPC. Four promising lines were selected from the clusters formed, characterized by shorter plant height, shorter cropping period, and acceptable fruit and yield characters. The replicated evaluation trial of the selected accessions along with two check varieties revealed accession 09-063 as the most promising collection with the shortest plant height, earliest maturity, and with the plant crop's computed bunch weight per annum (BWPA) of 14.91 kg. Utilization of this accession in banana plantations, in combination with high-density planting, would provide a significant impact on yield, profit, and availability of raw Saba for direct consumption and processing.