Correlation of Morphometric, Fruit, Seed and Germination Traits in Soapnut (<I>Sapindus trifoliatus</I> Linn.)

Abstract

Fruits were collected from 40 individual trees from four climatic zones viz., dry deciduous, moist deciduous, evergreen and coastal zone in Uttara Kannada District of Karnataka and correlation co-efficients were analysed to understand the relationship of growth, fruit yield and germination traits. The association of morphometric characters revealed that fruit yield per tree was highly positive and significantly associated with crown diameter and negatively associated with clear bole height indicating that the fruit yield will increase as crown diameter enlargers and clear bole height decreases. Economic part of tree is pericarp of the fruits, which was strongly associated with fruit weight and diameter. however, per cent germination was strongly associated with seed weight, and fruit weight, which were positively significant. This shows that fruits, with large seeds supported high germination.