Morphological characterization of cultivars collection of Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) from Tunisian oasis

Abstract

Eight cultivars (CV) of lettuce, collected from Chenini oasis in south of tunisia, were analysed using both univriate and multivariete analysis applied to a set of 33 quantitative and qualitative traits. Results of Duncan test (α=0.05) and coefficient of variance analysis reflected significant differences between cultivars for head weight, head diameter, leaf and seed color. The color of leaves ranges from yellow to darck green with different degrees of shininess. Leaf margin are lobed for CV 2, CV 4, CV 7, CV 8 and entiers for the others cultivars. Seed colour varies including white for cultivars (CV 1, CV 2, CV 4, CV 5), black for (CV 6, CV 7, CV 8) and grey for CV 3.