Gill, P.P.S.Raina, Dimpy2017-06-032017-06-032013http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810016014The present investigation entitled ―Assessment of genetic divergence and hybridization studies in pomegranate germplasm‖. The objectives of this study were to assess genetic diversity based on horticultural traits, characterization of pomegranate genotypes using DNA markers, effectiveness of pollen storage conditions and exploration of the possibilities of F 1 hybrid production during year 2011-12. A significant and wide range of variation was observed among genotypes for various quantitative characters. Higher coefficient of variation was observed for characters like number of hermophrodite flowers per tree (26.67), number of fruits per tree (20.55), yield per tree (22.73), acidity (11.62) and TSS/acid ratio (13.23). ‗Ganesh‘ recorded maximum yield (21.16 kg/plant), fruit weight (309.3 g), aril weight (31.62 g /100 aril weight), peel weight (103.42 g) and TSS (13.39 %) but with minimum juice per cent (28.54 %). Mridula was observed promising for fruit length (6.75 cm), fruit breadth (7.85 cm), TSS/Acid ratio (51.18) and less in acidity (0.26 %). Highest juice per cent (67.26) and lowest TSS (11.0 %) was found in ‗Anar Shirin‘. Jhodpur White had highest number of hermophrodite flowers (338.3) and fruits per tree (60.84). The yield per tree was found correlated positively with fruit weight, aril weight and peel weight and negatively with juice per cent. The clustering of genotypes into eight different clusters was based on mean values of quantitative characters. The maximum inter -cluster distance of 72.74 was observed among genotypes of the cluster V and VII and minimum (23 .85) between the cluster IV and III. The principal component analysis showed that more than 82 per cent of the variability observed for quantitative characters in different pomegranate genotypes. Genetic divergence among the genotypes was estimated by 47 SSR markers. Six SSR markers (Pom010, ABRII-MP28, PGCT046, PGCT088, PGCT112 and PGCT037) showed monomorphic pattern and 41 showed polymorphic patterns with amplification of alleles ranging from 2 to 4. PIC value ranged from 0 and 0.66 (PGCT093) among 41 polymorphic primers. The UPGMA clustering grouped the genotypes into three main clusters I, II and III. The cluster I comprised of one genotype followed by the cluster II which contained eight genotypes, whereas, sub-cluster IIIA contained 12 genotypes, five and four in sub-cluster IIIB and IIIC, respectively. Genetic similarity values between genotypes ranged from 0.78 to 0.95 and dissimilarity was only 0.17. Maximum pollen viability was observed at -200 C storage temperature for 9 weeks and highest viable pollens found in Ganesh (95 %) followed by ‗Mridula‘ (94.7 %), ‗Jyoti‘ (92.7 %) and ‗Kandhari‘ (92 %). Highest pollen germination was recorded in Ganesh (78.9 %) followed by ‗Mridula‘ (75.8 %), Jyoti (58.9 %) and minimum in ‗Kandhari‘ (51.6 %). In hybridization study of pomegranate genotypes 80.47 per cent success rate in terms of fruit set after crossing was achieved. Highest fruit set observed in ‗Mridula‘ x ‗Ganesh‘ (85.54%) and lowest in ‗Mridula‘ x ‗Kandhari‘ (76.61 %). Five SSR primer pair (PGCT093, PGCT059, PGCT097, PGCT111, and ABRII-MP42) was found to produce the polymorphic alleles to confirm the hybridity of hybrids.enPomegranate, genotypes, divergence, quantitative characters, SSR markers, hybridization, pollen storage.Assessment of genetic divergence and hybridization studies in pomegranate germplasmThesis