Abstract
Mango is the second major fruit crop of Pakistan. A large number of unexplored indigenous mango germplasm with great
economic significance is present in the country. Hence, 425 mango accessions were studied from Azad Jammu & Kashmir
(AJK) as well as Northern and Southern Punjab to explore the genetic diversity. Total 33 traits (25 qualitative and 8
quantitative) enabled the assessment of morphological and physico-chemical diversity of the studied indigenous mango
germplasm. The first three principal components (PCs) contributed 68.06% variability among all mango accessions. The PCs
also successfully grouped mango accessions according to their morphological and physico-chemical characteristics. Trunk
height, tree circumference, crown diameter, leaf colour, leaf blade length, petiole length, inflorescence length, inflorescence
width, fruit shape, fruit weight, soluble solid contents, titratable acidity, sugar:acid ratio, reducing sugars, non-reducing
sugars and total sugars were found highly variable. Many of these characters are of substantial economic significance and
could be used as breeding goals to increase the germplasm repository as well as fruit yield and quality. In conclusion, morphological and physico-chemical traits were highly useful for mango germplasm characterization. Several accessions
also showed potentially good traits which could be used to develop new mango cultivars through future breeding schemes.
