Genetic Association and Assessment of Variability in Garlic

Abstract

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is the second most important bulb crop. To understand the genetic association and genetic variability between yield and its related traits among garlic genotypes, three garlic clones and a check were planted according to randomized complete block design. The elite garlic clone Wv had the highest garlic bulb yield over all entries. Yield is a complex quantitative trait associated with different plant traits. Garlic bulb yield was associated with plant biomass, bulb diameter, number of bulbs, and number of cloves. The plant traits leaf area, number of leaves, and plant height had minor effects on bulb yield. Principal component analysis reduced the original eight quantitative characters to three principal components that explained 100% of variation among four accessions of garlic. The proportions of the total variance attributable to the first three principal components were 60.8%, 25.4%, and 13.4%. ‘Wv’ and ‘Wn’ belong to the first cluster that has diversity for plant height, leaf area, and bulb yield, whereas ‘Lahsan Gulabi’ has diversity for bulb diameter and number of bulbs per square meter. Careful selection among these clones could be effective in improving garlic.