The cinnamon flowers exhibit protogynous dichogamy with 2 flower types “Type A” and “Type B” which first flowers during morning and evening respectively. This floral cycle causes a temporal barrier to the maintenance of elite breeding material and for hybridization with desired parents. Determination of variation in flower and inflorescence morphology can shed light on functional diversity in “Type A” and “Type B” flowers. In order to study these variations, a survey of cultivated cinnamon lands and wild habitats was conducted in fifteen locations in the Matara district. Peduncle length (PDL), flower length (FL), flower width (FW), and floral tube length (FTL) varied among cinnamon accessions collected. The variation in tepal shape was distinct: the two whorls of tepals of a single flower exhibited two shapes. The current investigation of differences in inflorescence, floral morphology and floral abnormalities of Cinnamomum verum provides information about their diversity, and recommends molecular analysis to further determine the genetic basis of two flower types in progynous dichogamy.

Sri Lankan traditional rice germplasm (Oryza sativa indica) consists of a wide variety of morphology and days to flowering (DF). The objective of this research was to develop a mini core collection representing the DF variation of the total collection. Three hundred and eighty four rice accessions from 53 Sri Lankan traditional rice varieties were evaluated for morphological and flowering time variation. The experiment was carried at Rice Research and Development Institute, Bathalagoda, Sri Lanka during the late short day season (Maha), 2012/2013.Three hundred and forty five accessions flowered and 39 accessions did not flower during the experimental period of 210 days. Two principal component analyses (PCA) were performed and subsequently 2 dendograms were developed for flowered and not flowered accessions. Sixty eight percent of total observed variation was explained through 6 principal components (PC's) by DF and fourteen quantitative morphological characters of 345 flowered accessions. Seventy nine percent of total observed variation of not flowered 39 accessions was explained through 4 PC's by 9 quantitative morphological characters. Ninety accessions were selected from 2 dendograms for development of a mini core collection; out of which 85 accessions represented flowered accessions based on minimum and maximum DF variation in each cluster of the dendogram. Five randomly selected accessions represented each cluster of not flowered accessions. Minimum and maximum DF values of both total collection and mini core collection were 56 and 189 days, respectively. Average DF of total flowered collection and mini core collection was 79.16 ± 0.95 and 87.95 ± 3.1, respectively. A similar trend in the regression relationship between DF and plant height and, DF and leaf length of the leaf prior to flag leaf was observed in total flowered collection and mini core collection, indicating the representation of mini core collection for flowering time variation.

Leaf spot and rough bark diseases are of high concern among cinnamon growers in Sri Lanka due to potential yield losses. Comprehensive information on distribution and intensity of the above diseases is not available in Sri Lanka. During this study, disease assessment keys were developed for leaf spot and rough bark diseases with subjective scales, which could be useful in assessing the severity of the two diseases. Two hundred and eighty cinnamon accessions from major cinnamon growing areas of Matara, Galle, Kalutara, Kurunegala, Ratnapura and Humbantota Districts were used to determine the intensities of the above diseases. All the districts showed a high level of leaf spot disease severity, where 23.81 % accessions from Galle and 17.14 % accessions from Kalutara districts exhibited the leaf spot disease severity scale of 6. Moreover, 60 % accessions from Kurunegala and 45.71 % accessions from Kalutara districts showed the leaf spot disease severity scale of 5. According to the study on rough bark disease severity, none of the major cinnamon growing areas is at a high risk of rough bark disease. However, the present study indicates the initiation and progression of rough bark disease in the six districts, where Matara district showed considerable levels of infection having 17.39 %, 11.59 %, 5.80 % and 4.35 % of accessions with disease severity scales 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively. The estimates of the two disease severities explain the present scenario of extent of the two diseases across major cinnamon growing areas in the country.

Protogynous dichogamy in cinnamon leads to cross pollination. Morphological variation among mother plants, progenies and other plants in more than 50 year old population due to possible cross pollination was determined. Cuttings of two mother plants and four seedlings from each mother plant were grown in a nursery. Ageindependent morphological characters of leaf shape, leaf base and leaf apex were taken. None of the progenies were 100% similar to mother plants. New phenotypes for leaf shape and leaf base were found in progenies. This work indicates contribution of cross pollination for allele richness leading to morphological variation in cinnamon germplasm.

Unavailability of information on photoperiod sensitivity of traditional rice is a disadvantage in breeding rice for adaptation to changing climatic conditions and for optimum plant architecture. This experiment was conducted to address the above problem through determination of variation in days to flowering (DF) and morphological traits of twenty eight selected very early maturing Sri Lankan traditional rice accessions under three photoperiod conditions: short day (SD), day neutral (DN) and long day (LD). Although rice is considered to be a facultative short day plant, 12 accessions (2088, 2979, 4615, 3970, 4245, 2091, 3450, 3883, 4217, 6741, 3738 and 3677) flowered significantly late under SD over LD, while accession 4223 flowered significantly late under DN. Fifteen accessions (3943, 4042, 4734, 3693, 4513, 3845, 4390, 4144, 4220, 4223, 4237, 4387, Bg 300, At 308 and Bg 379-2) flowered significantly early under SD over LD. Four accessions (3457, 3884, 6305 and 4358) were non-responsive to photoperiod for flowering time. Plant height significantly increased only in accession 4217 under SD. Higher plant height under DN was obtained from At 308 and accession 3883. Photoperiod did not affect plant height in accession 4237 and Bg 379-2. LD only or both LD and DN conditions produced significantly higher plant height irrespective of photoperiod responsiveness for DF in rest 26 accessions. Variation in response to photoperiod for DF and plant architecture in very early maturing Sri Lankan rice indicates the potential diversity of genetic factors for photoperiod response for future use in rice breeding.