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Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Multiplier Onion (Allium cepa var. aggregatum) Genotypes

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Abstract

The multiplier onion, often known as the potato onion, is a multiplying or aggregating onion that is typically propagated by vegetative means or, in some genotypes, by seeds. The study of genetic divergence and variability in multiplier onions, which is of developing interest, will aid in the careful parent selection for next breeding program with the use of a variety of germplasm and distinguishing features. Therefore, in the current study, an experiment was planned for the rabi 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 in Rajgurunagar, Pune, to screen multiplier onion lines suited for both domestic and export purposes. The agro-morphological characteristics of 36 onion genotypes, including plant height, number of leaves per plant, number of shoots per plant, bulblet polar diameter, bulblet equatorial diameter, number of bulblets per plant, weight of bulblets per plant, and average bulblet weight, were examined. Among 36 genotypes, 1534-Agg genotype recorded the highest total yield (287.17 q/ha). The genetic diversity of 36 genotypes was assessed using recently developed 17 intron length polymorphic (ILP) markers. Following amplification, 1008 bands in total were produced, with polymorphism information content values between 0.03 and 0.44 across 41 polymorphic loci and one monomorphic locus. The principal component analysis (PCA) detected three principal components (PCs) in that PC-I contributing 54.54% of the genetic diversity in the genotypes. In these genotypes, a total of 17 primers were amplified, resulting in 41 alleles. The cluster analysis revealed maximum genotypes in cluster B followed by clusters A, D, C, and E. The genotypes 1539-Agg and 1523-Agg have the maximum degree of similarity (0.97) in cluster A, whereas genotypes 1549-Agg and 1533-Agg have the lowest degree of similarity in cluster E. The genetic diversity among multiplier onion genotypes collected from various regions of the country has been shown by the current findings, which may serve as the foundation for more breeding studies in onions.

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Funding

The authors are thankful to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi and ICAR-Directorate of Onion and Garlic Research, Rajgurunagar, Pune, Maharashtra, India, for financial aid in the research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICAR-Directorate of Onion and Garlic Research, Rajgurunagar, 410505, Pune, Maharashtra, India

    Amar Jeet Gupta, Yogesh P. Khade, V. Mahajan, S. R. Hange, R. S. Shalaka & Major Singh

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  1. Amar Jeet Gupta
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  2. Yogesh P. Khade
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  3. V. Mahajan
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  4. S. R. Hange
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  5. R. S. Shalaka
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  6. Major Singh
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Contributions

Conceptualization, AJG and MS; methodology, AJG and YPK; software, YPK, SRS, SRH; resources, AJG and VM; writing, original draft preparation, AJG and YPK; writing—review and editing, AJG, YPK, VM; project administration, AJG; funding acquisition, MS.

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Correspondence to Amar Jeet Gupta.

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The research findings are not submitted anywhere; the results were neither fabricated nor manipulated and do not pose any threat to public health or national security.

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Gupta, A.J., Khade, Y.P., Mahajan, V. et al. Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Multiplier Onion (Allium cepa var. aggregatum) Genotypes. Plant Mol Biol Rep (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-023-01415-4

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