Phenotypic diversity of Fragaria vesca and F. viridis in Lithuania

Abstract

Variation of nine phenotypic characters measured in a field collection was assessed among ten Fragaria vesca L. and five Fragaria viridis Weston accessions from diverse native populations across Lithuania. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed significant differences for quantitative characters evaluated at both accession and species levels. The phenotypic characters of plants (number of flowers per inflorescence, flower diameter, length of inflorescence and length of petiole) differed significantly between F. vesca and F. viridis. The differences in phenotypic characters among accessions were specified by the Scheffe test. Among F. Vesta accessions, a high variation in the weight of 100 berries and petiole length was established. The accessions of F. viridis varied significantly in the majority of their phenotypic characters. The highest variations within accessions of both species were observed in the number of flowers per inflorescence and flower diameter. Keywords: Fragaria vesca, Fragaria viridis, accession, phenotypic character, phenotypic diversity, analysis of variance