Variability Study, Principal Component and Cluster Analysis on Fruit Characters of Watermelon Varieties
ZHAO Weixing
LI Xiaohui
XU Xiaoli
CHANG Gaozheng
LIANG Shen
KANG Liyun
GAO Ningning
Abstract：In order to offer references for selection and improvement of elite watermelon cultivars,using 56 mainly cultivated watermelon cultivars in China,the variation,principal component and cluster analyses of seven fruit characters (single fruit weight,longitudinal diameter,transverse diameter,pericarp thickness,center sugar content,marginal sugar content,the difference value of center and boundary sugar content)were conducted.The results showed that the variabilities of single fruit weight,pericarp thickness and the difference value of center and boundary sugar content were large with range of 4.53 kg,2.32 cm,3.00％,and variation coefficients of them were 21.74％,33.95％,26.64％.The principal component analysis was performed and showed that seven traits were classified into four components with their cumulative contribution of 93.94％.Based on the results of principal component analysis,the 56 watermelon cultivars were divided into small,medium-small,large-medium and medium fruit type four groups with clustering analysis,among which there were obvious differences in the traits.These findings cleared that single fruit weight,pericarp thickness,center sugar content and the difference value of center and boundary sugar content had great effect on quality of watermelon,selection of which in the process of breeding would accelerate the breeding and improvement of new varieties in the future.
Keywords：watermelonfruit charactersvariabilityprincipal component analysisclustering analysis
Publication Date：2017-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2026-09-12(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：5( 105-109 )