Morphological and Molecular Diversity Analysis in Fennel

A study was conducted to assess the morphological and molecular diversity of fennel using 20 genotypes. Multivariate analysis based on morphological traits grouped all genotypes into five major clusters. Cluster II was having nine genotypes, cluster I was having seven genotypes and cluster III was having 2 genotypes out of total genotypes used in this study. The other clusters were mono-genotypic. The highest inter-cluster distance was found between Clusters III and IV. Moreover, cluster IV was superior based on the cluster means for maximum yield-related traits. For the molecular analysis, 11 of the 20 SSR markers were found to be polymorphic. PIC values varied from 0.322 to 0.740. Molecular characterization revealed three major clusters comprising one, eight, and eleven genotypes. The genotypes that were grouped together showed high similarity while the genotypes which are far away are considered to be divergent. The results indicated from the present study can be helpful in selection, marker assisted selection (MAS) and crop improvement of fennel genotypes.