Evaluation of genetic diversity in some strawberry (fragaria × annanasa Duch.) cultivars in Iran using morphological characteristics

Strawberry is one of the most important small fruits in Iran and the world. Identification of elite cultivars according to morphological characteristics is an important task in any breeding programs of strawberry in Iran. For evaluation of morphological characteristics, the available strawberry cultivars in Iran, 15 daughter’s plants of commercial strawberries, were cultivated in the greenhouse using hydroponic system. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among cultivars for all the traits. Results showed that the means obtained from some evaluated traits such as leaf number, branch crown number, stolon number and truss number per plant were 11.18, 4.81, 9.00 and 2.89, respectively. Total yield of cultivars varied from 45.83 to 322.9 g/plant and 4 cultivars (Aliso, Selva, Paros and Gaviota) yielded more than 250 g/plant, while cultivar Blackmore, Fresno and Kordestan produced less than 100g/plant. The amounts of fruit firmness indicated that 'Camarosa' fruits were firmer than others cultivars. By factor analysis, the characteristics were divided in to seven factors and included 14 characteristics that accounted for 90.24% of total variations. Also, cluster analysis classified the cultivars in to seven distinct groups. The means of all evaluated characteristics of the fourth group were higher than those of the total means. The cultivars of “Kordestan” and “Sequia” were placed in a distinct group. According to our results, strawberry cultivars had high variations in quantitative and qualitative traits and were suitable for breeding program of strawberry in Iran.