Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources

A survey was done in 12 districts of West Bengal to identify the elite lemon genotypes resulted in the identification of 52 accessions which were further characterized by using 22 quantitative characters for descriptive analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis, discriminant analysis, correlation co-efficient analysis and principal Component analysis and biplot. Wide variation was observed in 12 quantitative characters i.e. fruit weight, fruit rind thickness, juice weight, juice volume, juice percentage, number of seeds per fruit, seed weight, seed length, seed width, TSS: Acid ratio, total sugar and non reducing sugars led to, hierarchical cluster analysis these collections into 20 clusters. Major characters responsible for such clustering by Canonical discriminant analysis were fruit length, juice volume, juice percentage, seed length and TSS: Acid. Principal component analysis (PCA) explained seven components with cumulative variance of 77.432 %. However, biplot analysis revealed genotypes present in different quadrant of scoring plot had higher values of quantitative characters remained in corresponding quadrant of loading plot. From this study it is concluded that the variability found in lemon genotypes can be exploited for the selection of elite material for further conservation, detailed evaluation and utilization in the crop improvement programme.