| Summary: | Loss of biodiversity, which has an impact on both plant development and genetic advancement, disrupts the
fundamental services that ecosystems provide to humanity. Variability assessment is a challenging topic. Multivariate
statistics can be useful for comparing and evaluating genetic variability. The data of 16 different morpho-physiological
variables were subjected to several multivariate approaches, including principal component (PC) and correlation
coefficient analysis, in order to assess the diversity of the twenty Turkey berry genotypes. The correlation coefficients
discovered through this analysis were used to gauge the strength of the association between the traits. In this study,
Pearson correlation analysis revealed a significant correlation between the observed phenotypic traits. Among these
traits, number of branches per plant , number of leaves, leaf area, number of flowers per cluster, number of flower
cluster per plant, number of fruits per cluster, number of fruit cluster per plant, and fruit diameter exhibited a positive
and significant correlation with fresh fruit yield per plant, whereas days of first flowering exhibited a negative and
significant correlation with fresh fruit yield per plant. Principal component (PC) analysis revealed that the first three
PCs had Eigen values greater than 1, accounting for 81% of the overall variation. For morphological features, PC 1
accounted for the largest variability of 57% of the overall variation, and the lowest contribution (10%) was recorded by
PC3. The genotypes St007, St006, St008, St010, St011, St001, St009, St018, St020, St003, St004, and St005 were
shown to be more varied and better performers in terms of fresh fruit yield and yield contributing features based on
the primary factor scores. According to research findings, the genotypes of Turkey berries identified in this work would
serve as useful genetic tools for boosting the productivity of the fruits for upcoming breeding endeavors, especially in
light of the unpredictability of climate change.
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