Analysis of genetic diversity in agronomic traits of 22 melon varieties

TANG Weihua; SUN Pengpeng; CHEN Liyong; ZHANG Geng; QIU Bangbang; FAN Siyan; MA Zhihu

doi:10.16861/j.cnki.zggc.2025.0252

Abstract：To investigate the genetic variation in agronomic traits of melon germplasm resources,screen high-quality germplasm,as well as offer a reference basis for gene mining and germplasm innovation,this study systematically evaluat-ed 19 main agronomic traits using 22 cultivated varieties as test materials,and conducted variability,correlation,principal component,and cluster analyses.The results showed that the coefficient of variation for the major agronomic traits of 22 melon varieties ranged from 0.19％to 36.20％,with the highest variation observed in the node of the female flower(36.20％),followed by the node of the male flower(32.63％).Correlations were widely observed among the agronomic traits,with a significant positive correlation between the sugar content of the melon heart and the sugar content of the mel-on flesh,and single fruit mass exhibiting significant positive correlations with fruit diameter,fruit length,flesh thickness,and seed cavity length.Principal component analysis categorized the 19 traits into several components,with the first 3 principal components cumulatively explaining 60.798 81％of the total variation.The first principal component included plant height,male and female node positions,fruit length,and seed cavity length.The second principal component includ-ed fruit diameter,flesh thickness,and single fruit mass.The third principal component included chlorophyll content and leaf nitrogen content.Cluster analysis at a genetic distance of 0.005 grouped the 22 materials into three groups.The first group mainly consisted of medium-to-large sized,white skinned,netted melon varieties.The second group inclued large-fruited,yellow-skinned varieties.The third group comprised medium-fruited,green-skinned,yellow-fleshed netted melon varieties.Most of the materials within each group exhibited distinct phenotypic characteristics,demonstrating sig-nificant breeding potential.