Genetic diversity assessment in European carrot genotypes

To assess the nature and magnitude of genetic diversity in carrot germplasm using the multivariate analysis, the experiment was carried out with 40 European carrot genotypes. The genotypes were classified for four principal components having the eigen values more than one. The first principal component largely accounted for total variation among the genotypes followed by second principal component. Component PC-I, had a high positive loading for root weight (0.420), root diameter (0.378), crown diameter (0.404), root weight and yield (q/ha), PC-II had the high positive loading for root: top ratio, PC-III for top length and PC-IV for flesh thickness. Plotting of PC-I against PC-II differentiated SH-C-12, SH-C-27, SH-C-136, SH-C-101, SHC-7-3-2, CITH-C-1 and SH-C-54 as the most divergent genotype. On the basis of single-linkage cluster analysis means, cluster-IV was the most important for number of leaf/plant, root weight, root length, crown diameter, flesh thickness and yield, whereas, cluster-I was important for minimum core thickness. Highest inter-cluster distance was observed between clusters II and IV (282.50). Most divergent accessions with high inter-cluster distance could be most appropriate parent for crop improvement.