Genetic variability assessment of worldwide spinach accessions by agro-morphological traits

Abstract

Spinach is a highly nutritive and medicinally important leafy vegetable cultivated in many countries worldwide. Diversity in the gene pool of a species may affect the adaptability to a new environment as well as to develop new varieties more tolerant to stress and pathogens. To assess the genetic variability of species, morphological traits are considered as the simplest markers. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted to explore the genetic diversity of spinach germplasm from 30 different countries, using agro-morphological traits. Data was based on 21 morphological characters, analyzed by multivariate statistical tools. Plant height, petiole attitude, leaf size, and leaf shape were the characters showing significant variations. Based on geographical distribution, the germplasm of Turkey and China was found to be more diverse, followed by Afghanistan and Pakistan. Results concluded that the studied germplasm possessed an important source of highly diverse agronomic traits that should be conserved for future spinach breeding programs.