Genetic variability studies based on agro‐morphological and quality traits in Indian garlic clones under the Bundelkhand region

ABSTRACT The wrong cultivar selection in an agroecological context is one of the major problems in garlic improvement. In principle, traditional local types are well adapted to regional climate and have good taste and quality. Hence, a two‐year experiment was conducted during the rabi season of 2019 and 2020 involving seventeen clones of garlic. The experiment was conducted in a Completely Randomised Block Design with three replications. The results revealed the presence of substantial variability among garlic clones for all the traits. The gross bulb yield (q ha ‐1 ) varied from 77.50 to 116.22 q ha −1 . The maximum gross bulb yield was recorded in the clone BUATG‐2 and was at par with BUATG‐8. Overall, the BUATG‐2 genotype was found promising for bulb and other phenotypic traits . The estimates of GCV and PCV were low (<10%) for plant height, collar thickness, equatorial and polar bulb diameter, bulb shape index, average weight of 50 cloves, days to harvest and TSS. The D 2 analysis grouped the 17 genotypes into five clusters. The results revealed that despite clonal propagation, sufficient variability is present in the local garlic clones which could be due to point or chromosomal mutation and need to be tapped for garlic breeding.