Received: 18 September, 2011. Accepted: 11 November, 2011. Original Research Paper International Journal of Plant Breeding ©2012 Global Science Books Characterization of Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) and Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) Accessions from Different Origins Based on Morpho-agronomic Traits Omalsaad 1 • Mohamad Osman 2 • A. K. M. Aminul Islam 3* 1 School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Malaysia 2 Kulliyyah of Science, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuantan 25200, Malaysia 3 Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Gazipur 1706, Bangladesh Corresponding author: *aminuljkkp@yahoo.com ABSTRACT The evaluation of morpho-agronomic traits was carried to identify the genetic relationship between two species of Hibiscus, roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) and kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.). Significant differences for morphological and agronomic characteristics were observed among roselle and kenaf accessions. The kenaf accessions showed better agronomic performance for most of the plant characteristics than roselle. Accession G4 had the tallest plants (213.0 cm) and number of branches/plant (24.83) among all accessions. ‘Noonsoon’ produced the highest stem diameter (8.61 cm) whereas ‘Khoken’ had the highest number of fruits/plant (226). Dendogram generated using morpho-agronomic characters were classified sixteen accessions into two main groups A and B. Five kenaf accessions included in group A whereas nine roselle accessions and two kenaf accessions were included in second group B. Roselle accessions were forming a group with a range of similarity coefficients of 0.5333 to 0.8780. ‘Bengkalis’ was close to roselle accessions although it was from different Hibiscus sp. ‘Noonsoon’ was very close to roselle accessions having a range of similarity coefficients of 0.5000 to 0.6326. Morphological characters would not be sufficient source for identification of relationship between roselle and kenaf varieties. In some cases, it was difficult to distinguish two species on the basis of morphological characters. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Keywords: beverage, fiber crop, genetic diversity, kenaf (H. cannabinus L.), Malvaceae, mestha, roselle (H. sabdariffa L.) INTRODUCTION Hibiscus L. is the genus under the tribe Hibisceae of the family Malvaceae (Borssum-Waalkes 1966). The genus contains about 300 species that grow in tropical and sub- tropical regions throughout the world (Anderson and Pharis 2003). It includes both annual and perennial herbaceous and woody plants. Some of the species are economically impor- tant as sources of food and medicines and others species are useful as ornamentals (Wilson and Menzel 1964). The mor- phology and cytology of some of the species, especially in the section Furcaria, have been much investigated (Skov- sted 1935, 1941). One species of Hibiscus, known as roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is used as a vegetable and to make herbal teas and jams. Another kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) is exten- sively used in fiber making. It is an annual or perennial plant belonging to the large family Malvaceae and is cul- tivated in tropical and subtropical regions for many useful purposes (Wilson and Menzel 1964). The crop is native to West Africa but it has been introduced to other countries and newly into Malaysia in early 1990s. Roselle is currently an important cash crop grown in the East Coast of Malaysia especially in Terengganu and Kelatan (Mohamad et al. 2002, 2005). It is locally known as "asam kumbang", "asam susur" and, "asam paya". It is grown mainly for its red acid succulent calyces that can be made into a drink or to make jams or jellies (Mahadevan et al. 2009; Foline et al. 2011). The red coloring makes it a popular ingredient of com- mercial herbal teas. In some places its leaves are also used as a vegetable and its stem has a fiber that is sometimes used for domestic purposes. Seeds of roselle are the source of nutrition, protein and other beneficial elements (Ismail et al. 2008). The seeds contain oil, which is good as a lub- ricant fuel, and used for making soap. Another species, kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) is an annual herbaceous crop of the Malvaceae family, which is known for both its economic and horticultural importance. It is a fiber plant native to east central Africa where it has been grown for several thousand years for food and fibre (LeMahieu et al. 2003; Banerjee et al. 2007). According to Dempsey (1975), kenaf is a short-day, annual herbaceous plant cultivated for the soft bast fibre in its stem. Kenaf grows in tropical and temperate climates and thrives with abundant solar radiation and high rainfall. Under good con- ditions kenaf will grow to a height of 5–6 m within 6–8 months (Wood 2003). Kenaf is composed of various useful components and within each of these plant components there are usable portions (e.g. fibres and fibre strands, proteins, oils, and allelopathic chemicals). The combined attributes of these components provide ample potential product diversity to continue use and development of this crop (Webber and Bledsoe 2002). Much research has been done in kenaf, and a large number of varieties have been developed to meet the demands of high-fiber-yielding and disease-resistant kenaf in the recent decades (Dempsey 1975; Bitzer et al. 2000). Identification of roselle and kenaf varieties and under- standing of genotypic characteristics and relationships between roselle and kenaf germplasm is important (Falusi 2008), which significantly promote their effective utiliza- tion and conservation. Traditionally, identification was based only on morphological and agronomical features. Since it is difficult to identify cultivars based entirely on these features, it is important to find an effective method to accurately identify roselle and kenaf varieties to meet our needs. This ®