Investigation of Agronomic Traits and their Relationships in German Chamomile Landraces (Matricaria chamomilla L.)

Chamomile is a native plant in Europe and is famous due to use as a culinary and medicinal. In order to evaluation of agronomic traits and their relationship in different chamomile landraces, 20 landraces collected from different areas of Iran and five European cultivars were planted in an augmented design in Fozveh Station of Isfahan Agriculture Research Center. Several phonological and morphological characteristics were measured. Results showed that flower yield per plant, number of flower per plant and essential oil content had maximum coefficient of variation (CV) and phonological traits, number of ligulate florets, flower diameter and flower height had minimum coefficient of variation (CV). Correlation coefficient of flower yield per plant with yield components e.g. number of flower per plant (0.95**) and number of flowering branches (0.73**) was positive and high. Results of step-wise regression for flower yield per plant showed that number of flower per plant, 100 flower dry weight and number of flowering branches were entered to the model, respectively (R2=0.98). Factor analysis showed that 80.06 percent of data variations were determined by six independent factors. Genetic diversity was considerable among landraces especially for flower yield per plant and yield components.