Diversity Analysis and Identification of Duplicates of Conserved Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) Accessions by Morphological Characterization

The conservation of sweet potato germplasm will aid in sustaining biodiversity and ensuring food security. The Plant Genetic Resources Centre (PGRC) has conserved 120 sweet potato accessions which have not been fully characterized yet, and in doing so, identifying duplicates will be needed for the efficient conservation and management of genetic resources. The main objective of this study was to access the genetic diversity of PGRC conserved sweet potato germplasm and identify the presence of duplicates. The data for 09 quantitative traits and 33 qualitative traits of 100 accessions were characterized during the 2019 Yala and 2019/20 Maha seasons using the international standardized descriptor for sweet potato. The variations were analyzed using cluster analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) with the support of Minitab 17. The results indicated four distinct clusters at a distance of 24.07, and highlighting that there are no duplicates within the collection. The cluster 4 represents 72 accessions and cluster 3 comprises 25 accessions. Cluster 1and 2 represents 2 and 1 accessions, respectively. The results of PCA illustrated that at least 10 PCs are required to explain 70.3%of the character variations among the 100 accessions. The four key characters; petiole pigmentation, primary vine color, predominant flesh color, and secondary skin color, are the significant contributors in high diversity. The findings of this study will be useful for systemic germplasm conservation and utilizing prominent traits in crop varietal improvement programmes.