Morphological and productive characteristics of nine "chufa" (Cyperus esculentus L. var. sativus Boeck) clones

Abstract

Cyperus esculentus L. is an abundant weed in all mild and tropical zones and is considered to be of great importance world-wide, but it is also a representative crop of Spanish Mediterranean region in the periurban area and the villages near the city of Valencia. Tubers are used principally to make a beverage called “horchata de chufas”; they are also consumed fresh. In previous studies we selected and characterized three cultivars, ‘Ametlla Bonrepos’ (AB), ‘Llargueta Alboraia’ (LA) and ‘Gegant Africana’ (GA), based on both quantitative traits, which showed high heritability, and on random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique. The present study was conducted to characterize six new clones, selected by our research team, based on horticultural and morphological descriptions, and to compare them with those of the three previously characterized cultivars. There were no significant differences in yield between clones. Significant differences among the nine clones were detected in the following parameters: tubers per plant, unit tuber weight, length, length/width ratio, and node number per tuber.