Morphological bio chemical and molecular characterization of fig Ficus spp germplasm

Abstract

newline The present investigation entitled Morphological, Bio-chemical and Molecular CharacterizationofFig(Ficusspp.)Germplasm wasconductedintheyears2022-23and2023- 24 in the Division of Fruit Science, SKUAST Jammu, Chatha. The genotypes were collected across different fig growing districts (Rajouri, Reasi and Poonch) of Jammu region to assess thegeneticvariabilityoffiggermplasm.Morphologicalandbiochemicaltraitswereevaluated using the IPGRI and CIHEAM (2003) descriptors. The results revealed significant variations among the studied genotypes wherein leaf area varied between 70.29 and 554.62 cm², averaging 266.13 cm², fruit width varied between 13.03 and 55.92 mm, with a mean of 28.92 mm,fruitweightrangedfrom6.80to46.39g,withanaverageof22.72 g,fruitfleshthickness varied between 5.62 to 27.57 mm with average 14.10 mm, number of fruits per tree ranged from 97.80 to 384.90 with mean of 229.80. Regarding bio-chemical parameters, total soluble solids (TSS)ranged from 7.01 to 21.05 ºBrix, with an average of13.31 ºBrix. Titrableacidity variedbetween0.14to0.38%withaveragevalueof0.26%,totalsugarrangedfrom5.92to 17.02 % with average 10.64 %, non-reducing sugar varied from 0.04 to 3.74 % with average value1.47%,reducingsugarrangedfrom5.52to13.29%withaverageof9.18%,thephenol contentrangedbetween23.54to92.86mg/100gwithaverage51.58mg/100gandanthocyanin contentrangedfrom23.81to102.16mg/100gaveraging61.02mg/100g.Mosttraitsexhibited high genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV), indicating strong genetic influence, with the highest GCV (73.51%) observed in non-reducing sugars. Heritability was also high, with the highestvalue(99.97%)fornon-reducingsugars.Traitslikefruitphenolcontent(99.39;44.42), number per tree (95.82; 65.25) and fruit weight (94.35; 25.89) showed high heritability and genetic advance, respectively, suggesting significant potential for improvement through selectivebreeding.ThePCAforleaf,fruitandbiochemicalexplained86.93,84.58and84.50% of the cumulative variance. Molecular characterization was conducted us