Assessing genetic diversity in Indian pummelo collections utilizing quantitative traits and simple sequence repeat markers (SSRs)

The aim of this study was to characterize 20 Indian pummelo genotypes based on quantitative traits and microsatellite (SSR) markers. Among the fruit quantitative traits, highest coefficient of variation (CV) was recognized for segment numbers (16.64%) followed by core diameter (13.93%), juice recovery (11.20%) and fruit weight (10.88%), while it was quite low for TSS (1.18%) and ascorbic acid (1.83%). The result of the PCA showed that six out of the nineteen principal component axis (PCA) had Eigen-values greater than one, and all together accounted for 63.47 of the total variability. Microsatellite based study revealed that PIC value ranged from 0.56-0.18, being highest from TC26 (0.56) and lowest from AC01 (0.18). The gene diversity ranged from 0 to 1. The heterozygosity ranged from AC01 (0.16) to TC26 (0.47) with an average of 0.31 per locus. The results also indicated that all twenty pummelo genotypes were demarcated into two major clusters A and B according to the UPGMA method.