Analysis of Morphological Variability in Wild Cherry (Prunus avium L.) Genetic Resources from Central Serbia

In thirty-three wild cherry (Prunus avium L.) accessions from Central Serbia, tree, leaf, fruit, and stone morphological characters were evaluated during three consecutive years. The goal was to detect relationships between the genotypes and to identify the most useful traits for discrimination among them. The study revealed a high variability in the set of the evaluated wild cherry accessions and considerable differences were found among them in all studied attributes. The majority of important correlations were determined among variables representing fruit and leaf size, and variables related to color. Cluster analysis distinguished wild cherry accessions into two distinct groups. In PCA, fruit and leaf traits such as leaf length and width, and fruit height, width, and weight, and skin flesh and juice color were predominant in the first two components, indicating that they were useful for the assessment of wild cherry germplasm characterization. These results indicate that these accessions must be conserved as valuable genetic resources to enrich the cherry gene pool and can be used for improving breeding efficiency of important horticultural traits worldwide.