Multivariate Analyses of Intra-Cultivar Variation of a Local Olive Cultivar in the Northern Part of Iran Using Morphological Traits

Abstract

The Northern part of Iran is the major olive-growing region in the country and cultivars have been transported to other part of the country from here. Among these cultivars, "Shengeh" has empirically been designated as one of the most polymorphic cultivars. This cultivar has not yet been subjected to a scientific study to uncover magnitude of variability at intra-cultivar level. Forty-nine accessions from Shengeh cultivar were selected from four geographical regions in the North of the country including: Rudbãr (Roodbãr), Manjil, Vakhmãn and Bahrãmãbãd and twenty-eight phenotypic characteristics belonging to organs such as leaf, inflorescence, fruit and endocarp were recorded on each tree. Intra-cultivar evaluation was carried out through multivariate statistical analysis on the recorded data. Results of cluster analysis revealed a high level of morphological variation within cultivar and clustered individuals into twenty-two groups. Individuals differing solely on one characteristic were gathered into the same groups in the dendrogram.