In-depth morphological assessment revealed significant genetic variability in common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) and tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) germplasm

Abstract

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum spp.) is an important crop in the high-altitude regions of the Northwest Indian Himalayas. The agro-climatic heterogeneity of this region offers a great deal of diversity in the agro-morphology of buckwheat species. In this study, a total of 61 accessions of Fagopyrum esculentum and Fagopyrum tataricum were characterized for 17 morphological (8 qualitative and 9 quantitative) traits. Significant differences (P < 0.0001) among all the traits were revealed by one-way analysis of variance. Further, significant phenotypic variability in both qualitative as well as quantitative traits was also observed. Both positive and negative correlations were observed between the traits of agronomic relevance. The principal component analysis (PCA) reveals about 69% variability among the first six components. The accessions were divided into two key clusters with numerous subclusters by considering the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean dendrogram. A cluster of 19 accessions was formed utilizing a PCA scatter plot indicating accessions with maximum values for important quality traits like plant height, leaf blade width, stem colour (red), primary branches, inflorescence length, flower colour (greenish-yellow), seed anthocyanin colour (green), seed shape (ovate) and seed weight. These accessions can be of vital significance for future buckwheat breeding programmes. The findings from the current study will form a favourable base for genetic resource management, improved cultivation and applications of buckwheat at the commercial level in the northwestern Himalayas of India.

Agro-Morphological and Molecular Characterization Reveal Deep Insights in Promising Genetic Diversity and Marker-Trait Associations in Fagopyrum esculentum and Fagopyrum tataricum

“…On the other hand, similar to Tetsuka and Uchino [ 43 ], we found that 1000-seed weight had a high positive correlation with seed width and length, which is beneficial for selecting high-yielding elite accessions [ 52 ]. Moreover, our results showed significant phenotypic differentiation between the two species, and in agreement with previous studies [ 30 , 50 , 51 ], flower and seed traits were the main source of differentiation. This differentiation could be mainly due to the different pollination modes, as common buckwheat is self-incompatible with dimorphic flowers, while Tartary buckwheat is self-pollinated and homostylous [ 53 ].…”

“…Our results indicate that the buckwheat germplasm analysed in our study exhibits great agro-morphological diversity that can be used to select elite accessions for future breeding programmes. The diversity observed in our study was similar to that observed under field conditions for common and Tartary buckwheat collections from China [29], Nepal [17,40], India [30,41,42] and Japan [43]. A high level of diversity was also observed in some global collections [36,44,45].…”

“…However, the genetic diversity of the available germplasm is poorly characterised, which hinders the use and selection of elite accessions for breeding programs [ 9 ]. Indeed, most previous studies have been conducted in local collections from hotspot regions such as China [ 29 ], India [ 30 , 31 , 32 ], Nepal [ 33 ], and Korea [ 34 , 35 ]. Some other studies were conducted in global collections but used only morphological traits [ 18 , 36 ] or only molecular tools such as AFLP [ 37 ], SSR markers [ 38 ] and genotyping by sequencing (GBS) [ 39 ].…”