Phenotype characterization and diversity assessment of mango (Mangifera indica L.) cultivars in Ethiopia

Little efforts have been made on mango genetic resource assessment in Ethiopia though it is one of the major fruit crops. This study was conducted to assess the diversity of 69 mango cultivars of different growing regions of the country based on 44 phenotypic descriptors. The results of both univariate and multivariate analysis of variance computed for quantitative data, and results from descriptive statistics for qualitative characters indicated the presence of phenotypic variation among the cultivars. Further analysis of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicated the first four components explained more than 75% of the total variation in which most fruit, seed and leaf characters contributed much to the observed variation. The cultivars were grouped into 13 clusters by Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Means clustering method from the Euclidean distances estimated from phenotypic characters. The three clusters (II, X, and XIII) constructed each by one cultivar while others encompass more than one irrespective of their geographic regions. This indicated the presence of diversity among cultivars in Ethiopia which can be exploited for further improvement, use, and conservation of mango genetic resources. Key words: Cluster, Euclidean distances, genetic resources, principal component.