Genetic divergence of cultivated ecotypes of spring garlic within the territory of Yugoslavia

Abstract

The primary centre of the origin of garlic is Middle Asia (Vavilov, according to Puhalovsky and Sozinov, 1987), with the greatest number of wild and domesticated garlic ecotypes. The secondary centre of origin is the Mediterranean within the Balkan region. Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is a traditional vegetable variety in Yugoslavia with a large number of cultivated ecotypes. The significance of the species lies in its usage for food, as well as for the pharmaceutical and food processing industries. The aim of this study was to characterise and conserve the genetic variability of Allium sativum L. Twenty different ecotypes of the spring garlic were collected for this purpose. The above-mentioned ecotypes originate from different regions in Yugoslavia, although they are currently collected and being investigated in the Centre for Vegetable Crops in Smederevska Palanka. We report an analysis of the production characteristics (bulb mass, weight and number of cloves) for twenty ecotypes of spring garlic. By applying cluster analysis, a dendogram was constructed of phenotype differences between the ecotypes. The dendogram shows grouping of the ecotypes at different hierarchical levels, based upon the variation observed.