Evaluation of citrus germplasm for physico-chemical and morphological traits

Abstract

Citrus fruit tree has great commercial importance with mandarin (Citrus reticulata) as the second most important citrus crop and includes a wide range of true and hybrid cultivars; however, there is a lack of studies about the characterization and evaluation of germplasm for Physico-chemical and morphological traits. A study on varietal selection and evaluation has been underway at National Citrus Research Programme since 2005-06. Evaluation of citrus species for various quantitative and qualitative traits related to leaf, fruit and seed morphology at phenotypic and genotypic level using morphological and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) markers confirmed the existence of a significant variability among all genotypes. The juice content has maximum positive association with pulp weight and then with the fruit weight, equatorial diameter and polar diameter with respect to genotypic and phenotypic level only. TSS and specific gravity was negatively correlated with juice content with respect to genotypic and phenotypic levels. Thus, morphological and molecular markers can be effective tool for successful establishment of genetic correlation among different citrus group. The present review paper will emphasize the evaluation of mandarin germplasm through correlation and path analysis for growth and yield related traits and various Physico-chemical attributes.