Unravelling the genetic diversity of Garcinia pedunculata Roxb. with multivariate analysis

Dioecious Garcinia includes small-to medium-sized evergreen trees and is the largest genus within the family Clusiaceae. Garcinia pedunculata Roxb. is a species of comparatively large evergreen trees with fluted trunks and short spreading branches that are found primarily in Northeast India. The rind of the Garcinia pedunculata Roxb. fruit is a source of hydroxycitric acid (HCA) which has been characterised as an anti-obesity agent. During the years 2020 and 2021, we performed a series of experiments to identify elite accessions of Garcinia pedunculata Roxb. from various locations of Manipur, India. The ripe fruits of 20 accessions were examined to identify and characterise their unique physicochemical properties. The study revealed significant variation amongst the accessions for all parameters. Principal component analysis was performed to characterise the relationships of the accessions. The six principal components that contributed 84.75% of the total variability were subjected to further analysis. The biplot linking PC1 and PC2 revealed that accessions MZU-HAMP-GPS-3, MZU-HAMP-GPS-5, MZU-HAMP-GPS-6, MZU-HAMP-GPS-11, MZU-HAMP-GPS-19, and MZU-HAMP-GPS-20 had distinct properties and included all the desired characteristics. These accessions can be exploited for future breeding programmes.