Agro-morphological characterisation and antioxidant profiling of long-daygarlic (Allium sativum) genotypes from India

The present study was carried out during the year 2022–23 and 2023–24 at ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Regional Station, Katrain, Himachal Pradesh on agro-morphological characterisation and antioxidant profiling of six long day garlic (Allium sativum L.) genotypes developed along with one check cultivar, viz. Agrifound Parvati. Significant variations were observed among the seven genotypes of garlic for different horticultural and quality traits. On the basis of mean performance, genotype ‘KTGRL-1’ recorded highest bulb yield (617.29 q/ha) followed by ‘KTGRL-2’ (566.63 q/ha). Besides this, ‘KTGRL-1’ also had appreciable amount of total phenolics (445.63 µg gallic acid/g FW), cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) (3.70 µ mol trolox/g), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) (1.71 µ mol trolox/g) and ascorbic acid (5.86 mg/100 g). Further, estimates of heritability along with genetic gain were observed high for leaf width, average clove weight, average bulb weight, bulb yield/ha, total phenolics, CUPRAC, FRAP and ascorbic acid, which highlighted the importance of additive gene action for the control of these traits and are more reliable for effective selection in garlic improvement. Principal component analysis (PCA) identified six most relevant principal components which account for 95.00% of the variance across all attributes. Further, results pertaining to correlation and path analysis revealed that selection based on average bulb and clove weight, number of cloves per bulb, bulb polar and equatorial diameter, leaf length and width, and plant height would be a fruitful strategy for yield improvement in garlic.