The banana cultivar ‘Haji’ (Musa x paradisiaca)’ is indigenous to the Lombok Island, Indonesia. The cultivar ‘Haji’ has superior characteristics like a long shelf life, which has a great potential and contribution in the breeding enhancement. A genome group classification needs conducting to further support its breeding program. The identification of 10 accessions of cultivar ‘Haji’ found in Lombok Island progressed based on morphology and the genome group classification. The banana cultivar ‘Haji’ accessions have four defining morphological characters, i.e., a predominant underlying color of the pseudostem being pink until red, a waxy appearance of the leaf’s lower surface, a yellow-greenpink midrib ventral surface, and a horizontal bunch position. Among all accessions, the cultivar ‘Haji’ showed similarities in nine vegetative and 33 generative attributes, while the variations appeared in 14 vegetative and 15 generative traits. The genome group classification showed the banana cultivar ‘Haji’ had the ABB genome, and all the accessions had the defining characteristics of the ABB genome.
Banana, indigenous cultivar, ‘Haji’ (Musa x paradisiaca), genome, cluster analysis, shelf life, morphological characters, leaf shape, bunch position
Banana cultivar ‘Haji’ (Musa x paradisiaca) has autapomorphic characteristics that distinguish it from other cultivars in the ABB genome group. These include the predominant underlying color of the pseudostem being pink until red, a waxy appearance of the leaf’s lower surface, a yellowgreen- pink midrib ventral surface, and a horizontal bunch position.