MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISATION AND HYBRIDISATION IN FOUR SPECIES OF Corchorus

Studies on the morphology and cross compatibility of Corchorus incisifolious, Corchorus aestuans, Corchorus tridens and Corchorus olitorious were carried out. Plants were collected both from the wild and from cultivation. The plants were subjected to quantitative and qualitative morphological description and diallel crosses excluding selves, data collected were subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS statistical package model. Out of 20 qualitative traits, 4 were found to be monomorphic, 8 dimorphic and 8 were polymorphic indicating their potential for use in varietal delineation. Several crosses were made among the species and putative interspecific hybrids were produced. Percentage hybridisation success varied between C. incisifolious and C. olitorious among the cross combinations. Two putative reciprocal crosses were obtained between Corchorus olitorious and Corchorus incisifolious. The implications of these clustering patterns and hybridisation results are discussed.