Genetic Diversity and Genetic Relationships in Garlic Germplasm

The present investigation was conducted to assess the genetic diversity among 131 garlic genotypes using twelve morpho-agronomic traits and molecular markers at SVPUAT, Meerut, during rabi season of 2014. At the morphological level, ANOVA showed significant variation (p 0.05) for all traits indicating greater variability in germplasm. Mahalanobis D 2 analysis revealed a considerable amount of diversity in the germplasm. Traits like clove weight and bulb weight per plant were the major contributors to genetic divergence. At the molecular level, 19 RAPD and 4 ISSR marker generated 74 and 12 polymorphic bands respectively and SSR produced 42 alleles were detected among 131 garlic genotypes with an average of 3.9 (RAPD), 3 (ISSR) and 2 (SSR) bands. Cluster analysis based on UPGMA, three separate dendrograms, and one combined similarity tree, prepared will help the genetic relation studies among germplasm. The genotypes viz., K1, GHC-1, PG-20, W6-35698, M352, AVTG-2, Chachena mota, Kantgola, CFG-3, AVTG-4 were more diverse with the good horticultural performance thus, these genotypes could be a good parental choice for further garlic breeding programs.