Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is the second most widely cultivated spice crop after onion, under the genus Allium and belongs to the family Alliaceae having chromosome number 2n (2X) = 16. It is an essential  bulbous Vegetable, Spice or condiments with the medicinal value used throughout the world [13-14]. It is multiple or compound bulb consisting of 10-20 bulblets or segments called clove covered by a parchment membrane. The genus Allium is one of the largest genera of the Alliaceae family. It comprises 450 species, most of which are biannual plants bearing underground storage bulbs  and bulbils [10] [19;20] which are of high economic significance [6]. India is the largest producer of garlic in the world after China. However, the productivity (8.16 t/ha) is very low compared to other garlic producing countries where, they grow long day types (China, 23.53 t/ha), which  gives higher productivity. Whereas, in Indian tropical plains, short day types with small size bulbs with more number of cloves are relatively low yielder. However, in hilly regions long day types are grown which gives a  higher bulb yield per unit area, but the hilly terrain area is limited in India. Besides, large scale production of local cultivars are accompanied by the high incidence of insect pests, diseases, shortage of irrigation water at critical growth period and post-harvest factors namely curing, grading, packaging and transportation are also main factors affecting the quality of garlic and render the crop to low production and productivity [15-18]. The productivity of garlic in India is poor as compared to other countries. This may be attributed to poor availability of quality and genuine planting material, lack of high yielding and disease tolerance varieties and inadequate crop management practices. Keeping the above facts in view the experiment was conducted to determine the  genetic diversity of 52 garlic accession using morph-agronomic traits. This result of the study will provide reproducible data to identify the variety with growth, yield to replace or be used with low yielding local variety.

Materials and Methods   

    Fifty two diverse garlic genotypes/varieties  were collected from different parts of the country. This genotypes and released verities were planted in RBD with 3 replication at HREC Arsikere in collaboration with TNAU, Coimbatore during the first week of October 2019. Planting of individual cloves was done at a spacing of 15X10cm. The recommended agronomic practices were followed to ensure a healthy crop growth and development. The soil of the experimental block was black with medium organic matter. The  area is located in  800 mt MSL, mean minimum of temperature 13.84⁰ C, the mean  maximum  temperature 34.62⁰ C with average  rainfall  694 mm peak in  May-June and September-October. Observations were recorded for growth and yield characteristics on randomly selected 5 plants in each replication for the all the characters viz., plant height(cm), number of leaves per plant, pseudo stem height (cm), leaf length(cm) and leaf breadth(cm). The yield characters viz., weight of the bulb (gram), bulb diameter(cm), number of cloves per bulb, clove weight (gram), length of clove(cm), bulb yield per hectare(kg per hactre) and days to maturity were recorded. The data of different genotypes and varieties characters were  statistically analyzed as stated by [9].

Table: Source of collection of genotypes under study

Results and Discussion

The present investigation revealed that significant variations were observed for different characters. The significant variations were observed in morphological characters are presented in table number 01. The maximum plant height was recorded in GS-38 (73.67cm) followed by GS-35 (72.15cm), GS-36 (71.67cm), GS-27 (70cm), GS-50 (66.33cm). The shortest plant height was recorded GS-23(38cm). These results are similar findings of [5] and [11]. The genotypes exhibited considerable variation in the number  of leaves per plant. The number of leaves per plant was recorded  significantly higher in GS-38 (11.43) followed by GS-35 (11), GS-31 (10.60), GS-45 (10.10) against the  mean population of 7.75. It was found that the maximum leaf length was recorded significantly higher in GS-50 (46.67cm) followed by GS-27 (42.03cm), GS-35 (41.53cm), GS-25 (42.27 cm), while the minimum in GS-43 (24.60). The width of  the leaf was showed highest in GS-19 (2.11cm) followed by GS-35 (1.81cm), GS-31 (1.77cm), GS-36 (1.74cm), while minimum in GS-43 (0.68cm)  against the population mean of 1.39 cm. Present findings are observed accordance with [7]. These results are also similar  to the findings of [8], who showed all the morphological characters are different in garlic genotypes.

Yield traits

The data with respect to yield traits were presented in table 2 and  3. The results revealed that the average bulb weight ranged from 7.60 grams to 19.60 grams. It was noted that  bulb weight was highest recorded significantly in GS-38 (19.62gram) followed by GS-50 (19.60gram), GS-36 (18.40 gram), GS-35 (18.10 gram) GS-27 (17.23gram), while minimum bulb weight was observed in the genotypes GS-48 (7.10 gram). These results might be due to the genetic variation among garlic genotypes and their ability to explore environmental sources [2]. The diameter of   the bulb ranged from 2.0 cm to 5.00 cm against the population mean of 3.42 cm. The diameter of the bulb was maximum in GS-35 (5.00cm) followed by GS-36 (4.96cm), GS-37 (4.32 cm), while  the  minimum  diameter of  the bulb was observed in the garlic genotypes  GS-34 (2.0 cm).

The same trend was found in the number of cloves per bulb. The maximum number of cloves per bulb was recorded with GS-35 (22.10) which  was significantly superior to all other genotypes and followed by GS-38 (21.70), GS-36 (21.0), GS-50 (20.7), while minimum in GS-33 (7.0) .These findings are similar to those of [1] and [3]. It seems that the  number of cloves per bulb may be an essential trait in increasing  yield.

The average  weight  of clove was significantly recorded higher  in GS-38 (2.52 gram) followed by GS-36 (2.36 gram), GS-50 (2.18 gram), GS-35 (2.31 gram) GS-27 (1.78 gram), while minimum in GS-25 (0.57 gram).The highest length of clove was recorded GS-38 (2.81 cm) followed by GS-36 (2.70cm), GS-50 (2.25 cm), GS-25 (2.25), while length of clove was  minimum in GS-13 (0.99 cm).

      These findings results are also following the findings of [4] and [12], who reported significant difference for bulb yield in different garlic varieties. The present investigation shows that GS-38, GS-36, GS-50, GS-35 emerged as superior overall other genotypes/variety for garlic  yield and quality under the  Karnataka region^’s central dry zones.

Conclusion

   Based on the present investigation, it can be concluded that analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among genotypes for all the characters showing a thereby considerable amount of genetic variability for all the characters. The bulb weight, number of cloves, diameter of the bulb had a positive and desirable association with bulb yield and selection of these traits would be effective for yield improvement in garlic.

FUTURE SCOPE

Performance of the identified superior genotypes could be confirmed by large scale performance trial at different locations for yield stability and the best genotypes could be adopted for commercial cultivation.

Acknowledgement. The authors are thankful to DOGR, Pune, Maharashtra, India and all agriculture universities for providing us necessary genotypes and facilities to undertake the studies.

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