Agro-morphological diversity of evergreen Oaks (Quercus) in Western Himalayas, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan
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Abstract
In Western Himalaya, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, oak (genus Quercus) is the most significant widely distributed genus and has enormous potential for both economical and therapeutic uses. This study was aimed to find the morphological associations between the different species of genus Quercus and to assess and contrast the findings related to the leaf and acorn character. This investigation is critical for the preservation and recombination of germplasm as well as for the diagnosis, documentation, and nomenclature of the genus Quercus. Five different species viz Quercus glauca, Quercus incana, Quercus dilatata, Quercus baloot and Quercus semicarpifolia from different ecological regions of Azad Kashmir, Western Himalaya were examined in the field to gather information on their agro-morphological traits and yield potential. A total of 17 morphological features, eight qualitative and nine quantitative, were scored to determine the patterns of morphological variation utilizing multivariate approaches such as clustering and principal component analysis as well as descriptive statistics. The species were grouped into five clusters and within each group, high morphological variations were recorded with a Euclidean distance (0.2 to 0.6). The nine principal components contributed 100% of the variability. Overall the results presented here show significant agro morphological diversity among five different species of genus Quercus accessions in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. This study verified the taxonomic efficacy of leaf and fruit characters in Fagaceae and also convincing on the reliability of the morphological characteristics data.
Keywords; Morphology; Quercus; Perenial tree; Temperate zone; Western Himalayas