Preliminary Evaluation of Morphological and Pomological Characters to Illustrate Genetic Diversity of Apricots (Prunus armeniaca L.) in Afghanistan

Abstract

Afghanistan assumed to be a part of the diversity center of Central Asian group of apricots but due to lack of proper collection, precise detection and documentation of distinct variability, the apricot diversity in the country is under unknown and unprecedented threat. This study, therefore, was run in Badam-Bagh research station for two consecutive seasons (2016-2017) to assess 28 various characters of 20 native Afghan apricot accessions. Results showed a high variability among studied genotypes. Leaf and fruit characteristics such as leaf blade length, leaf blade width, fruit weight, kernel weight, mesocarp percentage, kernel bitterness and fruit quality like total soluble solids, pH, and titratable acidity, skin color and fruit shape which subsequently determines customer appeal and marketability, displayed huge variation. Based on fruit weight, there were two groups of apricot genotypes; small fruits (<37 g) and large fruits (>37 g). Accessions with large fruits embrace: “Amiri”, “Bid-Mushk”, “Hassan-Khili”, “Jibraelli”, “Koorpa”, “Qandak”, “Pir-Naqshi”, “Seyed-Abadi”, “Salari-Sorkh”, and “Saqi”. Most genotypes were early flowering and intermediately ripening in nature. Kernels of only “Walayati” accession had strong bitterness and remained were sweet-kernelled. The mesocarps of most accessions were very weakly adhered to stones. PCA showed 86.15% of total variance among genotypes to be due to first seven components. UPGMA cluster analysis separated 20 accessions into 2 main groups (13 accessions in the first and 7 accessions in the second groups). The results exhibited that morphological characters of leaf and fruit and pomological characters are of immense importance in fast and easy description of apricot genotypes. This is per se the first study on genetic diversity of apricot accessions performed in Afghanistan. The results would provide opportunity for apricot breeders to select accessions with elite and premium characters in terms of marketability and adaptability for particular growing sites.