Ashenafi Haile Gebeye

Hawassa University, Ethiopia

Abstract Title:Early shoot regeneration, growth dynamics, and physiological divergence among clonal, non-clonal, and wild forms of enset (ensete ventricosum (welw.) cheesman)

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Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman is primarily propagated vegetatively through corm division, yet the mechanisms underlying developmental divergence among landraces during early regeneration, and how these early differences extend across the full developmental cycle, remain poorly understood. Although previous studies explored socio-ecological drivers of enset resilience in Sidama, how landraces differ during early regeneration remains unclear. To address this gap, we evaluated morpho-physiological plasticity in five contrasting landraces-cultivated non-clonal, cultivated naturally clonal, and wild-under uniform field conditions across BBCH stages 12–19, starting from the corm prior to sucker transplanting. The growth and physiological traits were significantly influenced by both its developmental stage and their interaction. Cultivated landraces showed rapid emergence (36 to 42 days) compared to the wild landraces (121 days). Similarly, cultivated landraces showed faster biomass accumulation at the rate of 8.42 cm per week, compared to 3.54 cm per week in wild types. Shoot production per corm was significantly higher in cultivated landrace (300 shoots) compared with the wild types which produced roughly 32 shoots, and canopy development averaged ~3000 cm² leaf area in cultivated versus substantially smaller sizes in wild landraces. The highest photosynthetic rate (10.9 µmol CO₂ m⁻² s⁻¹), stomatal conductance (13.9 mmol H₂O m⁻² s⁻¹), and chlorophyll content (15.7 mg g⁻¹ FW) were observed in a cultivated landrace, whereas the wild landrace prioritized water-use efficiency (53.9 µmol CO₂ mmol⁻¹ H₂O). Structural and physiological traits were tightly coordinated, and reaction norms across developmental stages revealed genotype-specific adaptive syndromes: cultivated landraces emphasized rapid carbon assimilation, shoot proliferation, and canopy expansion, while the wild landrace emphasized slow emergence, limited shoot formation, and water conservation. These findings highlight how domestication and clonality shape early regeneration dynamics and physiological strategies in enset, likely setting developmental trajectories that influence later growth and performance. Future studies should examine the full developmental cycle, seasonal variation, hormonal regulation, and epigenetic mechanisms to better understand the interactions among environmental cues, management practices, and intrinsic plasticity. Such integrative knowledge can inform optimized transplant readiness, propagation efficiency, and sustainable management of enset-based farming systems.