Evaluation of Lonicera caerulea L. genotypes based on morphological characteristics of fruits germplasm collection

It is known that a polymorphic population consisting of a large number of genotypes adapts more rapidly to the environment conditions. The availability of a large gene pool predetermines the success of the introduction and further breeding of new cultivars with economically valuable features. Morphometrics is a classical tool for studying the amplitude of the variability of cultivated plants and evaluating the genotypic diversity of the artificial population. The objective of this study was to evaluate the morphological parameters of Lonicera caerulea L. fruits for 26 genotypes from the population introduced in the M.M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden (Kyiv). Morphological characteristics (weight, width, and length) were analyzed in L. caerulea fruits using multivariate analysis. Evaluated morphometric parameters were the following: fruit weight from 0.73 to 1.60 g, fruit length from 16.42 to 27.29 mm, fruit diameter from 7.77 to 12.34 mm. The shape indexes of fruits varied from 1.51 to 3.52. The fruit weight (14.09%-34.50%) and fruit diameter (6.68%- 22.76%) are the most valuable characteristics important for further selection. According to their three properties, the 26 genotypes of L. caerulea grouped into two groups and five subgroups. Using the PC analysis (PC1 = 71.60%, PC2 = 25.16%, and PC3 = 3.23%), L. caerulea genotypes were separated into groups with similar morphological parameters.