Morphological and agronomic characterization of (Capsicum annuum L.) germplasm in Pakistan

Assessment of genetic diversity is an essential component in germplasm characterization and utilization. Molecular markers serve as a valuable tool to assess the genetic variation and germplasm identification, which play a key role for faba (Vicia faba L.) bean breeding. In this study, we analyzed the genetic diversity of faba bean accessions based on simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and morphological traits. Forty-six faba bean accessions, originating from different countries and from the ICARDA breeding program, were evaluated by using 15 morphological and agronomic traits and 17 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci. Significant differences among accessions for the 15 morphological descriptors were observed. Analysis by SSR markers showed a high genetic diversity among the accessions: All SSRs showed polymorphism, and 101 alleles were revealed for all accessions. The number of alleles at each locus ranged from 2 to 10, with an average of 5.94 alleles per marker, and the polymorphic information content (PIC) values ranged from 0.38 to 0.84 with a mean of 0.69. Expected heterozygosity (He), observed heterozygosity (Ho), unbiased expected heterozygosity (UHe), and Shannon’s information index (I) showed existence of high genetic variation between accessions from different pedigree. Analyses of genetic distance of the accessions separated the accessions into two groups and seven and five subgroups according to morphological and SSR analysis, respectively. Principal component analysis (PCA) of the SSR markers showed that the first two principal components (PCs) explained a total of 43.90 % of the genetic variation and allowed to distinguish three groups of accessions. Regardless of the method of analysis, Tunisian cultivars are grouped together. For the rest of the accessions, the geographical origin did not seem to be the main factor for structuring the variability of the studied accessions. Elite accessions from the ICARDA faba bean program differed from others and clustered together. The results obtained suggested that the faba bean microsatellite markers can be used to efficiently distinguish faba bean genotypes and to estimate their genetic diversity.

EVALUATION OF OLIVE GERMPLASM IN IRAN ON THE BASIS OF MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS: ASSESSMENT OF 'ZARD' AND 'ROWGHANI' CULTIVARS

The ability to identify genetic variation is indispensable to effective management and use of genetic resources. Morphological traits are among the earliest markers used in germplasm characterization and management. Leaf and fruit morphological characteristics were recorded for 23 cultivars of Macadamia using a sample of 30 for each trait and replicated three times. The analysis of variance revealed significant differences in leaf length, width, petiole length and leaf marginal serrations. Significant differences were also revealed in fruit cluster length, number of fruits per cluster, fruit length but not fruit width. Cluster analysis using R statistics grouped the accessions into three major clusters referring to the two cultivated Macadamia species; Macadamia integrifolia and Macadamia tetraphylladisplaying the highest dissimilarity, and the hybrids at the intermediate position. These markers are found to be reliable in distinguishing between the macadamia cultivars in Kenya. Among the markers, leaf petiole and marginal serrations are easily assessable and possible to use in distinguishing between the species. Key words: Genetic diversity, macadamia germplasm, morphological markers, cluster analysis.

32 Turkish corn accessions representing different climatic, geographic and topographic areas in Turkey were identified. Genetic variation and its pattern in three corn races (pop, flint and dent) included 32 accessions were investigated using 25 morphological and agronomic traits. Vegetative, ear and kernel related traits were significantly varied both among races and accessions within races. Variance component due to races and accessions within race were statistically significant, but the variance components due to accessions were generally made up large component of total variance and ranged from 17.17% in kernel length to 82.75% in tassel length. There were also strong and mostly positive correlations between studied agronomic traits as well as between agronomic traits and isoenzyme loci. These correlations were explained by the traditional farming practices and enzyme specificity with flint accessions since the enzyme systems such as Alcohol dehydrogenase (locus 1), Malate dehydrogenase enzyme (loci 2–3) and 6-phospho-gluconate dehydrogenase (locus-1) are generally considered to be the characteristics of flint corn race. Canonical discriminant function analysis with twenty-five morphological and agronomic traits revealed that first two canonical discriminant variables explained 68% of total variation among accessions. Two Canonical variables, in which kernel related traits were heavily weighted, correctly classify the three corn races – indicating that Turkish corn accessions maintained their racial characteristics with agronomic and morphological traits.

A total of 67 watermelon accessions which include 37 accessions from Korean and 27 accessions from Turkish germplasm and 3 accessions of other related species from USA were investigated for morphological characteristics. The UPOV descriptor list for 56 characters (6 seedlings, 4 plants, 11 leaves, 5 flowers, 23 fruits and 7 seeds) was used in characterization. In addition, eight quantitative characters, hypocotyl length, cotyledon width, cotyledon length, fruit weight, fruit length, fruit width, thickness of outer layer of pericarp and soluble solid content were also measured. The 56 qualitatively scored characters were analyzed by principle coordinate analysis (PCoA) while the eight quantitative ones were subjected to principle component analysis (PCA). Morphological characterization result demonstrated that the accessions displayed high morphological diversity(how much percent?). A high level of phenotypic diversity was observed from the results of morphological characterization. However, plant growth habit and leaf blade flecking showed constant characters for all of the accessions. The Korean and Turkish watermelon genotypes are diverse groups and can be separated by both multivariate analysis of morphological characters although the grouping was more apparent in PCoS results.

Yam bean [Pachyrhizus DC.] is a legume genus of the subtribe Glycininae with three root crop species [P. erosus (L.) Urban, P. tuberosus (Lam.) Spreng., and P. ahipa (Wedd.) Parodi]. Two of the four cultivar groups found in P. tuberosus were studied: the roots of ‘Ashipa’ cultivars with low root dry matter (DM) content similar to P. erosus and P. ahipa are traditionally consumed raw as fruits, whereas ‘Chuin’ cultivars with high root DM content are cooked and consumed like manioc roots. Interspecific hybrids between yam bean species are generally completely fertile. This study examines the genetic diversity of the three crop species, their potentials for breeding and the identification of useful traits to differentiate among yam bean genotypes and accessions. In total, 34 entries (genotypes and accessions) were grown during 2000‒2001 at two locations in Benin, West Africa, and 75 morphological and agronomical traits, encompassing 50 quantitative and 25 qualitative characters were measured. Diversity between entries was analyzed using principal component analysis, cluster analysis, multivariate analysis of variance and discriminant function analysis. Furthermore, phenotypic variation within and among species was investigated. Intra- and interspecific phenotypic diversity was quantified using the Shannon–Weaver diversity index. A character discard was tested by variance component estimations and multiple regression analysis. Quantitative trait variation ranged from 0.81 (for total harvest index) to 49.35% (for no. of storage roots per plant). Interspecific phenotypic variation was higher than intraspecific for quantitative traits in contrast to qualitative characters. Phenotypic variation was higher in overall for quantitative than qualitative traits. In general, intraspecific phenotypic variation ranged from 0.00 to 82.61%, and from 0.00 to 80.03% for quantitative and qualitative traits, respectively. Interspecific phenotypic variation ranged from 0.00 to 95.02%, and 0.00‒81.58% for the two trait types, respectively. The Shannon–Weaver diversity index (H′) was in general high and over 0.80 for most of the trait. Diversity within P. tuberosus was higher than within P. erosus and P. ahipa. Across the 50 quantitative and 25 qualitative traits, the Shannon–Weaver diversity index of intra- and interspecific variation was around 0.83 and 0.51, respectively and was lower for qualitative than for quantitative traits. Monomorphism was observed in eight qualitative traits and one quantitative character. The first, second and third principal components explained, respectively, 39.1, 21.3 and 8.3% of the total variation in all traits. Pachyrhizus erosus, P. ahipa, and P. tuberosus (‘Chuin’ and ‘Ashipa’) were clearly separated from each other by these analyses. Multivariate analysis of variance indicates significant differences between Pachyrhizus species for all individual or grouped traits. Discriminant function analysis revealed that the first two discriminant functions were almost significant. Biases due to unbalanced sample size used per species were small. Within each species a similar amount of diversity was observed and was determinable to 70% by only ten traits. We conclude that the cultivated yam bean species represent distinct genepools and each exhibits similarly large amounts of genetic diversity.

The present investigation was carried out in forty genotypes of ber at the Department of Fruit Science, College of Horticulture, Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur (UP) from 2021–22 to 2022–23. Phenotypic correlations were worked out among eighteen characters of Ber to know the nature of the association existing among the characters. The correlation among the quantitative characters was worked out. The length of the fruit was found to be significantly and positively correlated with fruit weight (0.617**), and the width of the fruit exhibited a significant positive correlation with fruit weight (0.853**). Leaf length showed significant positive correlations with length of fruit (0.443*) and a non-significant but positive correlation with weight of fruit and width of fruit. Leaf width showed significant positive correlations with fruit weight (0.794**), length of fruit (0.563**), and leaf length (0.487*). Stone weight has shown significant positive correlations with fruit weight (0.626**) and width of fruit (0.874**), and stone length has shown significant positive correlations with fruit weight (0.440*), leaf width (0.409*), and stone weight (0.584**). Stone width has shown significant positive correlations with leaf length (0.417*), leaf width (0.701**), and stone weight (0.487*). The height of the tree has shown significant positive correlations with length of fruit (0.576**), width of fruit (0.977**), stone length (0.803**), and stone width (0.628**). The stem girth also exhibited a significant positive correlation with fruit weight (0.966**), width of fruit (0.496*), leaf length (0.650**), stone weight (0.397*), and height of the tree (0.406*). Specific gravity has shown significant positive correlations with fruit weight (0.817**). leaf length (0.641**) leaf width (0.424*), stone weight (0.455*), stone length (0.417*), and stone width (0.734**).
 TSS content was also found to be significantly and positively correlated with fruit weight (0.774**), leaf length (0.645**), leaf width (0.970**), stone weight (0.539**), stone length (0.425*), stone width (0.765**), stem girth (0.855**), and specific gravity (0.547**). Total acidity content in fruit was found to be significantly and positively correlated with fruit weight (0.725**), length of fruit (0.882**), width of fruit (0.948**), leaf length (0.809**), leaf width (0.989**), stone weight (0.772**), stone length (0.605**), stone width (0.892**), height of the tree (0.792**), and specific gravity (0.702**). TSS: acid ratio has shown significant positive correlations with fruit weight (0.981**), length of fruit (0.455*), width of fruit (0.963**), leaf length (0.929**), leaf width (0.854**), stone length (0.813**), stone width (0.727**), height of the tree (0.832**), stem girth (0.453*), and specific gravity (0.728** ).Reducing sugar has shown significant positive correlations with fruit weight (0.680**), leaf width (0.821**), stone length (0.835**), stone width (0.503*), height of tree (0.747**), stem girth (0.812**), and TSS acidity ratio (0.410*). Non-reducing sugar has shown significant positive correlations with fruit weight (0.782**), length of fruit (0.999**), width of fruit (0.499*), leaf width (0.482*), stone weight (0.662**), stone length (0.399*), stone width (0.453*), specific gravity (0.488*), and TSS (0.787**). Total sugars have shown significant positive correlations with fruit weight (0.960**). length of fruit (0.412*) leaf length (0.539**), leaf width (0.710**), stone length (0.745**), stone width (0.897**), height of the tree (0.658**), stem girth (0.841**), and acidity (0.584**). Ascorbic acid has shown significant positive correlations between length of fruit (0.938**), leaf width (0.642**), stone length (0.664**), stone width (0.685**), height of tree (0.400**), and specific gravity (0.942**).

The productivity in sorghum is low, owing to various biotic and abiotic constraints. Combining insect resistance with desirable agronomic and morphological traits is important to increase sorghum productivity. Therefore, it is important to understand the variability for various agronomic traits, their heritabilities and nature of gene action to develop appropriate strategies for crop improvement. Therefore, a full diallel set of 10 parents and their 90 crosses including reciprocals were evaluated in replicated trials during the 2013–14 rainy and postrainy seasons. The crosses between the parents with early- and late-flowering flowered early, indicating dominance of earliness for anthesis in the test material used. Association between the shoot fly resistance, morphological, and agronomic traits suggested complex interactions between shoot fly resistance and morphological traits. Significance of the mean sum of squares for GCA (general combining ability) and SCA (specific combining ability) of all the studied traits suggested the importance of both additive and non-additive components in inheritance of these traits. The GCA/SCA, and the predictability ratios indicated predominance of additive gene effects for majority of the traits studied. High broad-sense and narrow-sense heritability estimates were observed for most of the morphological and agronomic traits. The significance of reciprocal combining ability effects for days to 50% flowering, plant height and 100 seed weight, suggested maternal effects for inheritance of these traits. Plant height and grain yield across seasons, days to 50% flowering, inflorescence exsertion, and panicle shape in the postrainy season showed greater specific combining ability variance, indicating the predominance of non-additive type of gene action/epistatic interactions in controlling the expression of these traits. Additive gene action in the rainy season, and dominance in the postrainy season for days to 50% flowering and plant height suggested G X E interactions for these traits.

The present work aimed at evaluating the divergence among common bean accessions by their agronomic, morphological and molecular traits, based on the Ward-MLM procedure. A collection of 57 accessions from the gene bank of Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo was used in this study, from which: 31 were landraces belonging to the community Fortaleza, in the municipality of Muqui, ES, Brazil; 20 accessions were provided by Embrapa Trigo; and 6 were commercial cultivars. Five agronomic traits (plant cycle, number of seeds per pod, number of pods per plant, weight of 100 seeds, and grain yield), five morphological traits (growth habit, plant size, seed shape, seed color, and commercial group) and 16 microsatellite primers were evaluated. High genetic variability was detected considering morphological, agronomic and molecular traits in the 57 common bean accessions studied. The Ward-MLM procedure showed that the ideal number of groups was five, according to the pseudo F and pseudo t² criteria. The accessions from Andean origin had heavier seeds than others and formed a cluster. The Ward-MLM statistical procedure is a useful technique to detect genetic divergence and to cluster genotypes by simultaneously using morphological, agronomic and molecular data.

One hundred and thirty six sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) landraces collected from three different agro-ecological Zones of Tanzania [Lake Victoria basin (LZ), Eastern (EZ) and Southern Highlands Zones (SHZ)] were characterized morphologically and agronomically using International Potato Centre (CIP) descriptors in two seasons. The cluster analysis revealed existence of two major groups, 1 and 2 with low genetic variability of 0.52. Number of roots, weight of roots, fresh weight/plant and dry matter content differed significantly among and within agro-ecological Zones. Landraces Lubisi from southern highlands Zone had the highest number of roots (12 per plant) and Shinamugi from Eastern Zone had highest dry matter content of 39.4%. Overall, landraces from Lake Zone recorded highest average root weight of 8,977.7 kg ha-1 followed by Southern highlands (7,561.2 kg ha-1) and Eastern zone (4,333.0 kg ha-1). Principal coordinate analysis (PCA) indicated variances accumulated by the first five components of the six major morphological characters was 52.5% and produced similar groups corresponding to those of cluster analysis. Our data indicate low genetic variation despite significant variations shown by agronomical traits. Many landraces recorded in different names from three different agro ecological Zones showed close resemblance and grouped into two major groups suggesting presence of duplicates or mislabelling. Keywords: Morphological traits, agronomical traits, diversity, germplasm characterization, Ipomoea batatas, sweet potato

Information about the genetic variation among cultivars of vegetable crops is of vital importance for improvement of plant breeding programmes worldwide. The objectives of this study were to group 19 pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) cultivars from the collection of Maritsa Vegetable Crops Research Institute, Plovdiv, Bulgariainto clusters according to their distances as estimated by agronomic traits and 9 di-and tri -nucleotide inter simple sequence repeat polymorphism (ISSR) markers and to assess the relationships between them. The phenotypic characterization during 3 consecutive years revealed significant differences among Bulgarian cultivars for the studied 13 phenotypic traits. The biplot analysis of quantitative traits showed that the most strongly correlating traits with the first axis (55.6% of variance) were fruit width, fruit weight and pericarp thickness (in the negative direction of the axis), and plant height (PH) (in the positive direction). The most discriminative traits, considering the second axis (22.6% of variance) were fruit length (FL) and to a lesser extent the stem height (StH). The correspondence analysis of the qualitative traits showed that the intensity of the colour of the fruit (before and at maturity), fruit colourbefore maturity and fruit shape in longitudinal section were the most discriminative characteristics for the first two dimensions. The agronomic traits data and 7 dinucleotide ISSR primers were used to estimate the pairwise genetic distances. Higher mean phenotypic distance (0.414) in comparison to the genotypic ones (0.214) among the cultivars was observed, indicating higher phenotypic diversity among them. A highly signi?cant, positive correlation between the agronomic data and ISSR marker-based matrices (r=0.41, p=0.001)was detected. This indicates that ISSR distance tended to re?ect that of the agronomics ones. However, additional molecular studies and large collection of highly diverse genotypes are needed to reveal associations between the marker loci and specific QTLs. The research initiated is a base for more precise estimation of genetic distances between pepper genotypes from the available large collection of landraces, local and modern cultivars including large number of highly polymorphic markers.

The Capsicum breeding has been developed with emphasis in bell pepper (Capsicum annuum) and few studies are available in other species, especially C. baccatum, which has potential use not only as disease resistance source but also in obtaining new genotypes suitable for farmers' production. In the present work, the combining ability of ten C. baccatum hybrids, along with their five parentals, were tested considering 12 agronomic traits. The hybrids were produced from a complete diallel without reciprocals and assessed in greenhouse conditions, in Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, during the period July to December 2009. The experimental design was a randomized block with three replications and the following agronomic traits evaluated: canopy diameter (CD), plant height (PH), days to fructification (DF), number of fruits per plant (NFP), mean fruit weight (FW), dry fruit matter weight (FDM), dry matter content (DM), fruit length (FL), fruit diameter (FD), pulp thickness (PT), total soluble solids (TSS) and yield per plant (PP). Significant differences were observed only for general combining ability (GCA) in regard to PH, FW, FDM, DM, PT and TSS, indicating that additive effects were involved on the control of these characters. For CD, DF, NFP, FL, FD and PP, there was significance not only for GCA but also for specific combining ability (SCA) indicating that non-additive and additive effects were important in genetic control of these traits. The hybrids UENF 1629 X UENF 1732, UENF 1616 X UENF 1732 and UENF 1624 X UENF 1639 were considered superior because they have favorable agronomic traits.

Abstract. Amzeri A, Badami K, Pawana G, Alfiyan Syah M, Daryono BS. 2021. Phenotypic and genetic diversity of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) in East Java, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 22: 5223-5230. The assembly of hybrid watermelon (Citrullus lanatus Thumb.) varieties with superior characters is an effort to meet the needs of watermelon seeds in Indonesia and reduce dependence on imports of watermelon seeds. The morphological characterization of exploratory watermelon plants is needed to support the assembly of superior varieties because morphological characterization will reveal the characteristics of each watermelon tested. In addition, the genetic and phenotypic diversity coefficients, heritability, and correlation between characters are needed to support the assembling of the desired variety. This research aimed to determine morphological diversity, genetic and phenotypic diversity coefficients, heritability, and correlation among characters of watermelon from East Java, Indonesia. The research used a randomized complete block design with ten genotypes as treatment and three replications,. The observed morphological characters were quantitative and qualitative characters. The number of characters was 60 characters. Eight quantitative characters, i.e., flowering date, harvesting date, fruit length, fruit diameter, skin thickness, fruit total soluble solids, number of seeds, and fruit weight were used to calculate the genetic and phenotypic diversity coefficient, heritability, and correlation between characters. Quantitative character data were subjected to analysis of variance, followed with a Duncan Multiple Range Test (p<0.05). The results showed that (i) Grouping based on morphological characters produces dendrograms with similarity coefficients ranging from 0.58 to 0.86 or there was a morphological diversity of 0.14 to 0.42, (ii) The phenotypic diversity coefficient (PDC) was greater than the genotypic diversity coefficient (PDC) in all observed quantitative characters, (iii) The broad sense Heritability values ?? of the tested watermelon genotypes ranged from 0.33 to 0.99, (iv) Fruit weight was significantly and positively correlated with fruit diameter, skin thickness, and number of seeds, (v) G1, G2, and G6 were the genotypes that can be used as parents to assemble superior watermelon varieties.

Pepper plants are subject to complex environmental factors including abiotic and biotic stresses in fields, as well as the significant effects of climate changes, including low and high temperatures. Low temperature stress in the growth and development of pepper plants is one of the most critical issues, and directly impacts the crop yield and productivity of pepper plants. Therefore, it is essential to select and breed low temperature-(LT) tolerant pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) cultivars. This research was conducted to assess the agronomical traits of 39 pepper accessions belonging to the chili and bell fruit varieties which were cultivated under two different night temperature set-points: at 15 °C for a suboptimal temperature (CT) and at 10 °C for a low temperature (LT). The plant heights (PH) of most pepper accessions in a LT were significantly decreased compared to those in a CT. The stem diameter (SD) and the length of main axis (LMA) varied depending on the genotypes under LT. Moreover, the number of flowers (NFL), total number of fruits (NFR), fruit yield (FY), fruit fresh weight (FFW), fruit length (FL), fruit diameter (FD), and number of seeds in a fruit (NSF) remarkably declined in a LT compared to in a CT. The evaluated agronomical traits between LT and CT were further applied for the correlation analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and hierarchical cluster analysis. Notably, the FY trait was correlated with other reproductive traits including NFR, FFW, FD, and FL on the positive directions and thirty-nine LT-treated pepper accessions were clustered into seven groups by the hierarchical clustering analysis. The selected accessions were primarily involved in the positive trends with the reproductive index including NFR, FL, FD, and FFW traits and could be used for pepper breeding programs to develop LT-tolerant cultivars.

There is a benefit to continued development of improved lines and cultivars of edible plants by effectively using the available gene pool. Pea is a staple food throughout the world (Pisum sativum L.). A field experiment was conducted for two consecutive seasons to assess the genetic diversity of 146 pea accessions. The characterization was based on quantitative and qualitative morphological characters. The pea accessions were collected from different agro-climatic zones of the world. A high degree of diversity was found among the pea germplasms both for qualitative and quantitative traits. Principal component analysis showed that days to 50% flowering, 100-seed weight (fresh and dry), plant height, and number of pods per plant are among the most important descriptors which accounted for more than 90% of the variation. Such a high magnitude of variation suggests the use of all these traits for efficient characterization of pea germplasm. Correlation studies revealed positive and significant correlations among yield, seeds per pod, 100-seed weight (fresh and dry) pod length, and width. Cluster analysis assigned all of the accessions to nine distinct clusters based on Euclidean distances and Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean (UPGMA), which suggests that there is no parallelism between genetic and geographical diversity.