Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2015, 63(4), 1187-1194 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201563041187

Graphic Analysis of Trait Relations of Spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) Landraces Using the Biplot Method

Naser Sabaghnia¹, Farhad Behtash², Mohsen Janmohammadi¹

¹ Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Maragheh, Golshar, Madar Square, Amirkabir Highway, 55142-21111 Maragheh, Iran

² Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Maragheh, Golshar, Madar Square, Amirkabir Highway, 55142-21111 Maragheh, Iran

Interest in growing spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) in Iran is increasing due to its potential returns relative to other leafy vegetable crops. An experiment was conducted to examine the influencing characters on spinach by using 54 spinach landraces with application of the biplot methodology in visualizing research data. The study revealed that genotype by trait (GT) biplot can graphically display the interrelationships among traits and facilitate visual comparison of genotypes. The first two principal components (PC1 and PC2) of the site regression model accounted for 66% of the total variation in 54 landraces and accounted for 78% of the total variation in 16 clusters which are generated from cluster analysis of above landraces. The polygon view of GT biplot suggested seven sections for the 54 landraces and suggested four sections for the 16 clusters. The vertex landrace G38 had longest days to flowering and the vertex landrace G20 had most values for the other measured traits. The other vertex genotypes were not good in any traits. The vertex clusters were C1, C4, C8, and C14 which cluster C8 had the highest values of flowering period, leaf length and petiole diameter while, cluster C14 had the highest values for the other traits. The results can be used to design efficient breeding strategies in spinach.

Keywords: genotype by trait (GT) biplot, dry yield, polygon view, site regression

Grants and funding:

We wish to thank Professor Dr. W. Yan (Eastern Cereal Oilseed Research Center of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) for making available a time-limited version of GGE biplot software as "Test Biplotxlsx.". Also, this research received funding from the Research and Technology Department of University of Maragheh, which is acknowledged kindly.

Prepublished online: September 2, 2015; Published: September 1, 2015  Show citation