Phenotypic diversity and morphological characterization of Amygdalus L. species in Lebanon

In this paper, we report on morphological diversity of Amygdalus L. species native to Lebanon, following a countrywide survey of almond germplasm whereby a total of 149 accessions were collected throughout the country and characterized by thirteen quantitative and four qualitative traits. The results indicated that the genetic diversity of Amygdalus communis L., Amygdalus korshinskyi Hand.-Mazz., and Amygdalus orientalis Duh. in Lebanon is high. Principal component analysis revealed that nut weight, nut volume, nut width, kernel volume and shell strength had highest loading in the first component that accounted for 38.7% and 46.7% of total variation in A. communis and A. orientalis, respectively. In contrast, leaf traits were present in the second component which accounted for 18% and 23.2% of total variation in each species, respectively. No significant correlations were detected between leaf parameters and fruit traits in both species. The results indicated that quantitative leaf characters for all three species were determined by rainfall and not altitude whereby adjacent accessions located in drier areas had smaller leaf sizes than those located in more humid regions. Quantitative fruit characters did not seem to vary accordingly. Qualitative leaf traits in all three species reflected a variability which was independent of rainfall. A. communis populations showed high variability, suggesting that they could be a valuable source in almond improvement programs.