Characterization and the Genetic Diversity in Pummelo Using Fruit Traits and SSR Markers

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Pummelo is one of the basic citrus species of horticultural importance for human health and nutrition security. It has wide genetic diversity due to its breeding behavior during the domestication process. The present research was performed to study the fruits traits and characterization of the studied 21 pummelo genotypes with morphological, fruit quality parameters, and SSR markers. Principal component analysis (PCA) was done to get PC individual plot and clustering the genotypes in five main clusters based on 17 morphological traits. The highest number (08) of genotypes was grouped in cluster V and the lowest (01) in cluster III. Genotypes resided with the highest genetic distance in the individual biplots are promising for suitable parents. Again, molecular characterization or cluster analysis was performed with 5 SSR markers. The PIC values ranged from a low of 0.66 (CAC23) to a high of 0.8787 (TAA41) and averaged 0.78. TAA41 presented the second largest (47 bp) difference among allele size range and the largest (11) number of alleles with the highest gene diversity value (0.88). The average genetic distance among the 21 pummelo genotypes were 0.8362. The NJ cluster analysis led to the grouping of the pummelo genotypes in three major clusters (I, II, and III). The genotypes resided in the similar cluster should be avoided for pummelo improvement. The findings of this research would be useful to select desirable parents for future pummelo breeding program.