Nineteen clones of water hyacinth were collected from different freshwater habitats of Florida (areas ranging from northwest to southeast) in order to determine the differences in productive characters. Clones obtained were characterized for parameters such as plant height, leaf area, leaf width and length, petiole length and width, photosynthetic area and shoot/root ratio by dry weight.
Since the clones obtained from the various habitats were morphologically different, one original ramet from each collection was then cultured under identical conditions (unilimited nutrient conditions) in a controlled aquaculture system. Daughter ramets produced were examined for differences in productive characters after 40 and 120 days culture. The productive characters (except shoot/root ratio) of daughter ramets showed the same variation as their respective original ramets at the time of 100% coverage (after 40 days of culture); however, after 120days, the variability among daughter ramets decreased significantly.
In a second experiment after original ramets had been cultured for about 40 days, daughter ramets produced were examined for productivity under unlimited nutrient conditions for 4 weeks. At the end of that period, net productivity of daughter ramets was significantly affected by dry weight and photosynthetic area of the parent ramet. However, this effect was gradually reduced as the new generation progressed.