COMPARISON OF SUCKERING, LEAF AND CORM CHARACTERISTICS OF TARO GROWN FROM TISSUE-CULTURE AND CONVENTIONAL PLANTING MATERIAL

The growth of tare plants propagated either from tissue culture plantl ets or conventionally using hull (sections of corm containing the shoo t apex) was followed throughout a season. The plants grown from hull b egan suckering II weeks after planting and produced an average of 5 su ckers per plant. During most of the season, the hull-grown plants main tained 4-5 leaves at any one time, but had a high turnover of leaves p roducing 25 leaves during the 30 week period (0.8 leaves per week). At harvest the corms of the suckers contributed about one-third of the t otal corm weight to the entire hull stand. Plants grown from tissue cu lture exhibited earlier suckering (starting 8 weeks after planting) an d a more profuse suckering, producing an average of about 8 suckers pe r plant. The tissue culture plants had a similar number and turnover o f leaves on the main plant as the hull plants. However, due to the ear ly and more profuse suckering of the tissue culture plants, the sucker s contributed more to the leaf area, leaf number and yield of the enti re stand than the hull suckers. The tissue culture main plants had a d ecreased leaf area, leaf size and shorter petiole length than the hull plants. The total corm yield of the hull and tissue culture entire st and was similar. However, the main corm of the tissue culture plants w as smaller as the suckers contributed over 50% to the total corm weigh t of the entire stand in tissue culture plants.