Analysis of Morphological Variability, Correlation and Principal Component in a Cultivated Population of an Important Medicinal Plant, Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz. (Asteraceae)

Although Atractylodes macrocephala is an important economically medicinal plant with a centuries’ cultivation history, our understanding of its morphological variation remains rudimentary. Here, in order to generate information on character association, and influence of characters on rhizome yield of cultivated Atractylodes macrocephala, variability, correlation and principal component analysis for 21 morphological characters were studied on 100 morphologically distinct accessions of this medicinal crop. The significant and positive correlation for dry rhizome yield per plant was observed with the largest diameter, number of buds, number of branches and shape of the rhizome, and closely followed by primary branches per plant, plant height, plant crown, and apical lobule length and width of the largest lower leaf. Factor analysis was also used for defining of the determinant factors and the characters constituted in each factor. In Principal component analysis (PCA), the first four main and independent factors could explain 65.75% of the total variation related to main effective characters. Additionally, the results grouped the accessions into two clusters based the scatter plot of principal component analysis defined by the first two axes, which separated accessions with more than two-branched rhizome from other accessions. This characterization on the basis of morphological analysis will help in identification of economically useful accessions for further germplasm conservation programmes and crop improvement. [Li Zheng, Ruihong Wang, Binlong Chen, Chengxin Fu. Analysis of Morphological Variability, Correlation and Principal Component in a Cultivated Population of an Important Medicinal Plant, Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz. (Asteraceae).Life Sci J 2013;10(4):3377-3386] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com 449