Morphological Variability and Yield Traits in Softneck Garlics

To improve garlic breeding, it is important to determine the morphological differences between garlic genotypes of local origin. This study was conducted to determine the phenotypic diversity of Turkish softneck garlic (Allium sativum L. sub. var. sativum) genotypes using morphological traits determined based on International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) descriptors. Twenty-six garlic genotypes were characterized using 15 quantitative morphological characteristics. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed that the first four principal components explained 84.58% of the total variation among the 26 garlic genotypes. The characters with the greatest contribution to variability were identified as Plant Height (PH), Pseudostem Diameter (PSD), Leaf Length (LL), Leaf Width (LW), Bulb Weight (BW), Yield (Y), Bulb Height (BH), Bulb Diameter (BD), Clove Height (CH), Bulb Height/Bulb Diameter ratio (BH/BD), Vumber of Cloves (NC), Clove Weight (CW), Clove Width (CWi), and Clove Thickness (CT). Significant differences were observed in the quantitative traits of garlic genotypes. As a result of the study, AS14 stood out for its clove weight, length, width, and thickness, while AS13 had the highest bulb weight and yield. The present findings could be reliably used in the development of new garlic varieties.