Phenotypic variability evaluation in globe artichoke population through multivariate analysis

REOLON DA COSTA, A; FERRARI GRANDO, M.; SHEFFER BASSO, S.; CRAVERO, V.; DONIDA, B.; AUGUSTIN, L.

Viterbo

Congreso; 8th International Symposium on Artichoke, Cardoon and their wild relatives; 2012

The phenotypic variability in a population of forty globe artichoke plants, established from seeds, was evaluated using 21 quantitative morphological, six multicategoric and two binary traits. Plants were cultivated at field, between April and December 2009, in Passo Fundo/RS, Southern Brazil, and evaluated at commercial stage. Quantitative data were subjected to multivariate analysis. The relative contribution of each trait to genetic divergence was estimated. Mahalanobis distances between plants were calculated and a cluster analysis was performed by UPGMA method. For multicategorical and binary traits the population was characterized taking into account the percentage of plants in each class. The distance among individuals ranged from 3 to 50.88, indicating high variability within population. The character with the highest relative contribution to genetic divergence was the fresh mass of the primary head, which explained 79.88% of the variability. This trait together with fresh mass of the fund, external bract length, days elapsed between planting and first?? head harvest, fund diameter and leaf number totalized 98.33% to the total variability. Cluster analysis allowed the formation of three distinct groups. Variation was observed in the green color intensity in leaves, primary head shape, tip of the primary head and external bracts, thorns on the external bracts and external bracts color. Multicategorical and binary characteristics are very important traits to select globe artichoke accessions for in natura consumption. The high variability observed within variety allows selection of plants with superior characteristics to use in crossing, and to perform the clonal propagation in order to develop materials for in natura consumption.