Morphological characterization of sponge gourd (Luffa aegyptiaca Mill.) genotypes from the eastern mediterranean region of turkey

Abstract

Having wide range of genetic resources, Hatay is the largest sponge gourd producer of province of Turkey. This study was conducted to determine the status and morphological diversity of the livestock breeding with a field survey in the districts of Hatay Province. As a result of the survey, 34 genotypes were collected that thought to be morphologically different. When the distributions of genotypes were examined, the genotypes were selected from Arsuz (5 genotypes), Defne (7 genotypes), Samanda? (1 genotypes), Antakya (5 genotypes), D?rtyol (6 genotypes), Yaylada?? (4 genotypes), Alt?n?z? (4 genotypes), Payas (1 genotypes) and Erzin (1 genotypes). Two genotypes (?31 AN 03? and ?31 AL 04?) from which the seeds did not germinate were extracted from the morphological characterization studies. Thirty-two genotypes selected from Hatay with 3 genotypes obtained from Adana, South Korea, and China in total of 35 genotypes were compared in terms of 49 different morphological characteristics. Variations between the genotypes were not identified for the observations made on these 49 features regarding cotyledon color, stem shape, tendrils, leaf margin, growth habit, sex type and peduncle separation from fruit. As a result of analysis of basic components and cluster analysis based on morphological characterization features, genotypes were included in six different groups. However, the effect of the districts on which genotypes were collected on this grouping could not be determined.