Assessment of Genetic Diversity and Heritability of Physiological and Phenological Characteristics of some Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) Genotypes under Climatic Conditions of Kurdistan, Iran

Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) is one of the important and commercial small fruits that are planted in temperate regions which contain high amount of natural antioxidants. Study of genetic diversity is very important for distinguish the genotypes relationships and evaluation and exploitation of genetic resources for breeding programs. To evaluate the physiological and phenological characteristics of strawberries genotypes, an experiment was carried out using a randomized complete block design with 3 replications in the Agricultural Research Center of Kurdistan, Iran. Physiological parameters (amount of chlorophyll a, b and ab, soluble solids, titratable acidity and anthocyanin) and phenological characters (appearance of first stolon, first flower and first fruit, flowering and fruiting period) and yield of genotypes were evaluated. Results of analysis of variance showed significant differences among genotypes for all traits at the 1% level of probability, indicating the existence of genetic diversity among genotypes. The results of mean comparison showed significant differences among genotypes for all traits, indicating existence of wide diversity among the studied strawberry genotypes. The highest chlorophyll content belonged to Paros genotype and the highest yield recorded from Queen Eliza and Gaviota genotypes, respectively. The highest anthocyanin and soluble solids content was belonged to Gaviota and lowest amount of these parameters belonged to Paros and Chandler genotypes and Chandler genotype also had the highest amount of chlorophyll a. There were little difference between phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation, indicating the low effect of environment on these characters. All traits had high common heritability with range of 82-99 %. Data were analyzed using principal factor analysis. The factor analysis technique extracted four factors. Four factors explained about 74.05% of the total variation, and 50.84% of the variance was accounted for by the two first factors. Factors I and II were identified as photosynthetic, and fertility Index, respectively. According to results of factor analysis and other analysis, Paros genotype was identified as suitable cultivar.