Morphological and Chemical Characterization of Psidium Species

Abstract

The present study was conducted to estimate genetic relationship among 20 genotypes of Psidium guajava and two species viz., P friedrichsthalianum Ndz. and P. catleianum Sabine, by morphological characterization. Out of 16 morphological characters studied, only inflorescence type did not show any variation, while the remaining traits showed variability to considerable extent. Morphological data on different genotypes were used to calculate similarity matrix which ranged from 0.06 to 0.50.and based on this cluster analysis was done using UPGMA. The genetic variation among genotypes was high enough to divide them into two major clusters. Cluster I consisted of ‘Chakaiya Rehmannagar’, ‘Gutaniwala’, ‘Super Max Ruby’, and ‘Spear Acid’, whereas cluster II consisted of the rest of 18 genotypes.

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Available online at www.notulaebotanicae.ro
Not. Bot. Hort. Agrobot. Cluj 38 (1) 2010, 28-32
Print ISSN 0255-965X; Electronic 1842-4309
Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici
Cluj-Napoca
Morphological and Chemical Characterization of Psidium Species
Anshu SHARMA, Surinder Kumar SEHRAWAT, Ran Singh SINGHROT, Ajinath TELE
CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Department of Horticulture, Hisar125004, Haryana, India; aai.tatya@gmail.com
Abstract
The present study was conducted to estimate the genetic relationship between 20 genotypes of Psidium guajava and two species, P.
friedrichsthalianum Ndz. and P. catleianum Sabine, by means of a morphological characterization. Out of 16 morphological characters
studied, only inflorescence type did not show any variation, while the remaining traits showed variability to considerable extent.
Morphological data on different genotypes were used to calculate similarity matrix which ranged from 0.06 to 0.50 and based on this
cluster analysis, it was peformed using UPGMA. The genetic variation among genotypes was high enough to divide them into two major
clusters. Cluster I consisted of ‘Chakaiya Rehmannagar’, ‘Gutaniwala’, ‘Super Max Ruby’, and ‘Spear Acid’, whereas cluster II consisted of
the rest of 18 genotypes.
Keywords: guava, morphological characters, polymorphism, biochemical
Introduction
Guava (Psidium guajava) is a luscious and important
tropical fruit crop belongs to family Myrtaceae. It is the
hardiest among tropical fruit trees and excels most of the
other fruit crops in productivity and adaptability. More-
over, guava scores over other fruits in ascorbic acid, pectin
and other mineral contents. Guava cultivars however, dis-
play a greater diversity in tree size, bearing habit and yield,
as well as in fruit size, shape, quality and ripening season.
The existence of a very largenumber of rootstocks, culti-
vars and clones, maintained by vegetative propagation,
reinforces the need of a reliable verification of cultivars
identifications for nurserymen and growers. An accurate
knowledge of genetic diversity available and the origin
of cultivars would assist in the selection of parents in a
hybridization programme. A careful study o germplasm
would also help to eliminate duplicates in the germplasm
collection, thus saving land, space and time.
Assessment of diversity has traditionally been achieved
through morphological characters, chemical composition,
and cytological characters, however, they have several lim-
itations especially in perennial crops. Despite the fact that
morphological characters are often limited in number,
they have a complex inheritance pattern and are vulner-
able to environmental conditions, it is easy and cheap to
carry them out, and can be carried out systematically.
In the light of the above facts, the present study was
conducted to study the diversity of guava germplasm at
morphological level.
Materials and methods
A total of 20 cultivars of Psidium guajava and two other
species namely Psidium cattelianum and Psidium friedrich-
sthalianum were selected from the experimental orchard
of the Department of Horticulture, CCS Haryana Agri-
cultural University, Hisar for morphological studies.
The 16 morphological characteristics used to charac-
terize and discriminate the 22 guava genotypes. Data were
recorded on mature leaves for foliage density, phyllotoxy,
leaf shape and mature leaf colour. The number of leaves
was observed per twenty centimeter length of shoot from
the apex. Inflorescence position was the only flower char-
acter taken on to account for characterization studies.
All observations on the fruit and its related parts were
made at the matured to optimum ripening stage. Fruit-
characteristics were observed on five fruits per each tree.
Data were documented for fruit shape, fruit surface, fruit
diameter, fruit length, fruit weight, fruit colour, and pulp
colour.
Physico-chemical analysis
Titrable acidity
Total titrable acidity was determined by methods given
by A.O.A.C. (1990). Two grams of fruit pulp were macer-
ated with a small amount of distilled water and the volume
was made to 25ml. A few drops of 1% phenolphthalein
were added and titrated against N/10 sodium hydroxide
taken in burette. The appearance of light pink colour last-
ing for a minute or longer indicated the end point. Acidity
was expressed in percentage i.e. grams of citric acid per 100
g of fruit pulp.
Total Soluble Solids
The fruits out of the composite sample were selected
and then pulp was crushed. The juice thus extracted was
used for the estimation of total soluble solids. The estima-

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Sharma, A. et al. / Not. Bot. Hort. Agrobot. Cluj 38 (1) 2010, 28-32
29
vealed that genotypes viz., ‘Patillo’, ‘Spear Acid’, ‘Barafkha-
na’, ‘White Flesh Sour’, ‘Lucknow-49’, ‘Allahabad Safeda’,
‘Hisar Safeda’, ‘Banarasi Surkha’, ‘Strawberry’ have super-
imposed leaves, while the rest of the thirteen genotypes
showed decussate pattern of arrangement. Genotypes
showed considerable variation in foliage colour. ‘Chakai-
ya Rehmannagar’, ‘Super Max Ruby’, ‘Supreme’, ‘Smooth
Green’ and ‘Allahabad Safeda’ showed green shade of foli-
age colour while genotypes ‘Patillo’, ‘Hybrid Red Supreme’,
‘SP 6550’, ‘Nasik’, ‘Hafsi’, ‘Gutaniwala’, ‘Hisar Safeda’, ‘Ap-
ple Colour’ and ‘Chinese guava’ showed a pale green shade
of foliage colour. In the remaining eight genotypes typical
dark green foliage was observed. The variation between
the genotypes for different morphological characters may
be attributed to the differences in the genetic make up of
these genotypes.
Foliage density was highest in the case of ‘Chinese gua-
va’ (35.3) followed by ‘Smooth Green’ (25.3) and least fo-
liage density was observed in the case of ‘Strawberry guava’
(11.3). ‘Chakaiya Rehmannagar’, ‘Spear Acid’, ‘Hafsi’,
‘Lucknow-49’ and ‘Apple Colour’ had oblong lanceolate
leaves, whereas ‘Nasik’ and ‘Chinese guava’ had lanceo-
late leaves. Oblong leaves was a characters of ‘Super Max
Ruby’, ‘Tehsildar’, ‘Allahabad Safeda’ and ‘Hisar Safeda’
and ovate of ‘Smooth Green’, ‘Dharwar’ and ‘Strawberry
guava’, while the rest of the genotypes possessed elliptical
leaves. The data pertaining to the inflorescence depicted
that all the genotypes of guava produced solitary, as well as
tion was made with the help of digital hand refractometer
and expressed as total soluble solid in percentage.
Ascorbic acid (mg/100 fruit pulp)
Method given by A.O.A.C. (1990) was followed. Two
grams of fruit pulp was taken and macerated in pestle and
mortar with a small amount of 3 per cent metaphosphoric
acid solution and filtered through muslin cloth. A final
volume was made to 25 ml with 3 per cent meta phos-
phoric acid.
Results and discussion
Morphological characters of the genotypes
A summary of the characters observed in the cultivars
studied in this study is provided in Tab. 1. ‘Chakaiya Reh-
mannagar’, ‘Hybrid Red Supreme’, ‘Supreme’, ‘Barafkhana’,
‘White Flesh Sour’, ‘Dharwar’, ‘Gutaniwala’, ‘Tehsildar’
and ‘Strawberry’ had a drooping growth habit, whereas
well known cultivars like ‘Allahabad Safeda’, ‘Hisar Safeda’,
‘Apple Colour’, ‘Banarasi Surkha’, ‘SP 6550’, ‘Spear Acid’,
‘Nasik’, ‘Hafsi’, and ‘Chinese guava’ have upright growth.
The remaining genotypes ‘Patillo’, ‘Super Max Ruby’,
‘Smooth Green’ and ‘Lucknow-49’ showed spreading na-
ture of growth. Spreading growth habit of ‘Lucknow-49’
has been also reported by Daulta et al. (1998) and Sehgal
and Singh (1965). In all the genotypes, the leaves were op-
positely arranged, however, a further study of phylloaxy re-
Tab. 1. Vegetative and floral characteristics of Psidium genotypes during winter season
Name of GenotypesTree habitFoliage densityPhyllotaxyLeaf shape
Mature leaf
colour
Green
Pale Green
Pale Green
Green
Pale Green
Green
Dark Green
Pale Green
Pale Green
Dark Green
Green
Dark Green
Dark Green
Pale Green
Dark Green
Dark Green
Green
Pale Green
Pale Green
Pale Green
Pale Green
Dark Green
Inflorescence
position
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
Cymose/Solitary
‘Chakaiya Rehmannagar’
‘Patillo’
‘Hybrid Red Supreme’
‘Super Max Ruby’
‘SP 6550’
‘Supreme’
‘Spear Acid’
‘Nasik’
‘Hafsi’
‘Barafkhana’
‘Smooth Green’
‘White Flesh Sour’
‘Dharwar’
‘Gutaniwala’
‘Tehsildar’
‘Lucknow-49’
‘Allahabad Safeda’
‘Hisar Safeda’
‘Apple Colour’
‘Banarsi Surkha’
‘Chinese’
‘Strawberry’
CD at 5%
Drooping
Spreading
Drooping
Spreading
Upright
Drooping
Upright
Upright
Upright
Drooping
Spreading
Drooping
Drooping
Drooping
Drooping
Spreading
Upright
Upright
Upright
Upright
Upright
Drooping
23.6
14.6
16.6
22.0
24.6
18.0
12.6
15.3
19.3
20.6
25.3
21.3
24.6
13.3
21.3
24.6
20.6
20.0
19.3
19.3
35.3
11.3
5.43
Decussate
Superimposed
Decussate
Decussate
Decussate
Decussate
Superimposed
Decussate
Decussate
Superimposed
Decussate
Superimposed
Decussate
Decussate
Decussate
Superimposed
Superimposed
Superimposed
Decussate
Superimposed
Decussate
Superimposed
Oblong lanceolate
Elliptical
Elliptical
Oblong
Elliptical
Elliptical
Oblong lanceolate
Lanceolate
Oblong lanceolate
Elliptical
Ovate
Elliptical
Ovate
Elliptical
Oblong
Oblong lanceolate
Oblong
Oblong
Oblong lanceolate
Elliptical
Lanceolate
Ovate

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Sharma, A. et al. / Not. Bot. Hort. Agrobot. Cluj 38 (1) 2010, 28-32
30
flowers in cymes of two or three in the leaf excel on current
season growth.
Flowers are borne singly or in cymes of two or three
in the leaf axils of the current season growth both on ter-
minal and lateral shoots. A similar inflorescence charac-
ter has also been reported by Ray (2002) and Shukla and
Vashishtha (2004).
Fruit characters
The genotype ‘Chakaiya Rehmannagar’ had an ovate
fruit shape. While ‘Patillo’, ‘Gutaniwala’, ‘Tehsildar’ and
‘Chinese guava’ had obovate fruits. Oblate fruits was a
character of ‘Super Max Ruby’ and ‘Apple Colour’, where-
as oval fruits were found in ‘Hafsi’ and ‘Dharwar’. ‘Spear
Acid’ had pear shaped fruits, whereas in the remaining 10
genotypes, a round fruit shape was observed. A rough sur-
face of fruits was noted in ‘Chakaiya Rehmannagar’, ‘Super
Max Ruby’, ‘Spear Acid’, ‘Gutaniwala’ and ‘Chinese guava’,
whereas rough fruit surface along the ridges was a charac-
ter of ‘SP 6550’, ‘Barafkhana’, ‘White Flesh Sour’, ‘Dhar-
war’, ‘Tehsildar’, ‘Lucknow-49’ and ‘Banarsi Surkha’. ‘Patil-
lo’ and ‘Supreme’ have a smooth and ridged fruit surface,
while the rest of the genotypes had a smooth surface (Tab.
2). Fruit length ranged from 2.63 to 7.62 cm. Maximum
fruit length was observed in ‘Lucknow-49’ (7.62 cm) that
was at par with ‘Tehsildar’ (7.29 cm). ‘Barafkhana’ (7.07
cm), ‘Dharwar’ (6.76 cm), ‘Gutaniwala’ (6.66 cm), ‘Super
Max Ruby’ (6.49 cm.) and ‘Smooth Green’ (6.36 ). The
minimum fruit length was observed in genotype ‘Straw-
berry guava’ (2.63 cm) which was at par with that of the
‘Chinese guava’ (3.14 cm).
The fruit diameter ranged from 2.47 to 7.07 cm. The
highest fruit diameter was observed in the case of ‘Luc-
know-49’ (7.07 cm), followed by ‘Barafkhana’ (6.63 cm)
and ‘Dharwar’ (6.47 cm). The minimum fruit width was
recorded in ‘Strawberry guava’ (2.47 cm), which was at par
with ‘Chinese guava’ (2.54 cm). The fruit weight ranged
from 11.93 to 213.80 g. The fruit weight was maximum m
‘Barafkhana’ (213.80 g), which was at par with ‘Lucknow-
49’ (211.26 g). The minimum fruit weight was recorded
in ‘Strawberry guava’ (11. 93 g) which was at par with the
‘Chinese guava’ (12.92 g).
The observations recorded in the present investigation
suggested that the different genotypes varied markedly
with respect to fruit length, weight and shape, obviously-
due to their differential genetic behavior.
Considerable variability was observed in skin colour.
The skin colour was yellowish green in ‘Chakaiya Reh-
mannagar’, ‘Hafsi’, ‘Gutaniwala’, ‘Lucknow-49’ and ‘Ba-
narsi Surkha’, whereas it was greenish yellow in ‘Hybrid
Red Supreme’, ‘Supreme’, ‘Nasik’, ‘Barafkhana’, ‘White
Flesh Sour’ and ‘Allahabad Safeda’. The remaining geno-
Tab. 2. Fruit characteristics of Psidium genotypes during winter season
Name of GenotypesFruit shape
Fruit
surface
Rough
Fruit length
(cm)
5.83
6.27
5.53
6.49
5.42
6.18
6.24
5.36
5.66
7.07
6.36
5.96
6.76
6.66
7.29
7.62
5.84
5.32
Fruit diameter
(cm)
5.61
3.39
4.83
5.17
5.74
5.70
5.45
5.01
5.05
6.63
5.88
5.44
6.47
5.36
5.39
7.07
5.41
5.20
Fruit
weight (g)
151.79
64.90
81.66
86.65
104.29
158.57
131.16
91.07
105.07
213.80
151.78
114.59
114.88
155.99
106.65
211.26
116.28
95.33
Fruit skin colour Pulp colour
‘Chakaiya Rehmannagar’
‘Patillo’
‘Hybrid Red Supreme’
‘Super Max Ruby’
‘SP 6550’
‘Supreme’
‘Spear Acid’
‘Nasik’
‘Hafsi’
‘Barafkhana’
‘Smooth Green’
‘White Flesh Sour’
‘Dharwar’
‘Gutaniwala’
‘Tehsildar’
‘Lucknow-49’
‘Allahabad Safeda’
‘Hisar Safeda’
Ovate
Obovate
Round
Oblate
Round
Round
Pear shaped
Oblong
Oval
Round
Round
Round
Oval
Obovate
Obovate
Round
Round
Round
Yellowish green
Green
Greenish yellow
Green
Green
Greenish yellow
Green
Greenish yellow
Yellowish green
Greenish yellow
Green
Greenish yellow
Green
Yellowish green
Green
Yellowish green
Greenish yellow
Yellowish green
Green with
reddish blush
Yellowish green
Green
Green
Creamy
Pink
Pink
Creamy white
White
White
Creamy white
White
White
Creamy white
White
White
White
Creamy white
Creamy white
White
White
Creamy white
Smooth and ridged
Smooth
Rough
Rough and ridged
Smooth and ridged
Rough
Smooth
Smooth
Rough and ridged
Smooth
Rough and ridged
Rough and ridged rough
Rough
Rough and ridged
Rough and ridged
Smooth
Smooth
‘Apple Colour’ OblateSmooth 5.815.07102.31White
‘Banarasi Surkha’
‘Chinese’
‘Strawberry’
CD at 5%
Oblong
Obovate
Round
Rough and ridged
Rough
Smooth
5.58
3.14
2.63
0.99
5.07
2. 54
2.47
0.69
131.52
12.92
11.93
12.69
Pink
Yellowish pink
Yellowish pink

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Sharma, A. et al. / Not. Bot. Hort. Agrobot. Cluj 38 (1) 2010, 28-32
31
types in the study had typical green coloured fruit skin,
while green skin colour with reddish blush was recorded
in ‘Apple Colour’. Variability with respect to pulp colour
was also recorded. ‘Chakaiya Rehmannagar’, ‘Super Max
Ruby’, ‘Spear Acid’, ‘Barafkhana’, ‘Gutaniwala’, ‘Tehsil-
dar’ and ‘Hisar Safeda’ had creamy white pulp. Pink pulp
colour was served in ‘Patillo’, ‘Hybrid Red Supreme’ and
‘Banarsi Surkha’, whereas the rest of the cultivars of Psidi-
um guajava L. under study had white pulp. The two other
species in the study viz., P. cattleianum and P. firiedrichst-
halianum have yellowish white and yellowish pulp colour,
respectively. Mortan (1984) also observed variation in the
pulp colour of two different species viz., P. cattleianum and
P. friedrichsthalianum.
Similarity in the fruit characters of ‘Hisar Safeda’ with
‘Allahabad Safeda’ may be due to ‘Allahabad Safeda’ is one
of the parents of ‘Hisar Safeda’. The similar variations in
the fruit characters were also observed by Dinesh and
Reddy (2001) and Singh (1988).
Physico-chemical characters
The total soluble solids, acidity and ascorbic acid con-
stitute the important chemical constituents for assessing
fruit quality of different guava genotypes. The total solu-
ble solids ranged from 9.4 brix to 13.5 brix. The maximum
total soluble solids was recorded in ‘Hybrid Red Supreme’
(13.5) followed by ‘Hisar Safeda’ (13.2) and ‘Patillo’ (13.
1), while minimum total soluble solids was recorded in
‘Chakaiya Rehmannagar’ (9.4) which was at par with
‘Chinese’ (9.6), ‘Super Max Ruby’ (10.1). The acidity
ranged between 0.37% to 0.96% for the different geno-
types. Maximum acidity was recorded in ‘Chinese guava’
(0.96%), which was at par with ‘Spear Acid’ (0.95%). The
minimum acidity was noted in ‘Hisar Safeda’ (0.37%),
followed by ‘Lucknow-49’ and ‘Patillo’ (0.42%). Ascorbic
acid, the major constituent of guava ranged from 51.90
to 189.73 mg/100 g of fruit pulp. Maximum amount of
ascorbic acid was recorded in the ‘Gutaniwala’ (189.73
mg/100 g fruit pulp) which was at par with ‘Lucknow-49’
(187.13 mg/100 fruit pulp) and ‘Hisar Safeda’ (184.20
mg/100 g fruit pulp), whereas the minimum amount of
ascorbic acid was observed in ‘Nasik’ (51.90 mg/100 g
fruit pulp), which was at par with that in ‘White Flesh
Sour’ (58.70 mg/100 fruit pulp). Chemical composition
of fruits showed remarkable variation TSS, acidity and
ascorbic acid which may be due to environmental factors
and cultural practices adopted. High acid content in ‘Chi-
nese guava’ has been reported by Morton (1984), Shukla
and Vashishtha (2004) and Subramanyam and Iyer (1993).
Similarity matrix and dendrogram
The morphological and physico-chemical characters
of 22 guava genotypes were used to generate similarity
matrices. The morphological diversity data was further
used to produce a dendrogram by using distance matrix
by UPGMA revealing the morphological relationship be-
tween all guava genotypes. Similarity matrices of 22 gua-
va genotypes revealed the relationship between them. A
maximum similarity value of 0.50 was observed between
‘Hafsi’ and ‘Apple Colour’ and ‘Barafkhana’ and ‘White
Flesh Sour’, whereas ‘Chakaiya Rehmannagar’ and ‘Patillo’,
‘Spear Acid’ and ‘Hybrid Red Supreme’, ‘Spear Acid’ and
‘Supreme’, ‘Barafkhana’ and ‘Hafsi’, ‘White Flesh Sour’
and ‘Super Max Ruby’, ‘Allahabad Safeda’ and ‘Gutaniwa-
la’, ‘Dharwar’ and ‘Hisar Safeda’, ‘Barafkhana’ and ‘Apple
Colour’, ‘Banarsi Surkha’ and ‘Super Max Ruby’, ‘Banarsi
Surkha’ and ‘Smooth Green’, ‘Chinese guava’ and ‘Ba-
rafkhana’, ‘Chinese guava’ and ‘White Flesh Sour’, ‘Chi-
nese guava’ and ‘Lucknow-49’ were quite diverse as indi-
cated by the low value of the similarity coefficient (0.06).
The two species ‘Chinese guava’ (P. friedrichsthalianum)
and ‘Strawberry guava’ (P. cattleianum) were found to be
quite diverse (0. 12).
The similarity coefficient values ranged from 0.06-
0.50 clearly indicating a low to moderate genetic diver-
sity among the guava genotypes. This may be so almost
all the commercial varieties are natural seedling selec-
tions from ‘Allahabad Safeda’, besides the breeding of new
cultivars through hybridization, ‘Allahabad Safeda’ has
been extensively used as one of the parents. Apart from
this, related Psidium species viz. P. cattleianum and P.
Tab. 3. Physico-chemical characteristics of Psidium genotypes
during winter season
Name of Genotypes
TSS
(0Brix)
Acidity
(%)
Ascorbic acid
(mg/100 g pulp)
‘Chakaiya
Rehmannagar’
‘Patillo’
‘Hybrid Red Supreme’
‘Super Max Ruby’
‘SP 6550’
‘Supreme’
‘Spear Acid’
‘Nasik’
‘Hafsi’
‘Barafkhana’
‘Smooth Green’
‘White Flesh Sour’
‘Dharwar’
‘Gutaniwala’
‘Tehsildar’
‘Lucknow-49’
‘Allahabad Safeda’
‘Hisar Safeda’
‘Apple Colour’
‘Banarasi Surkha’
‘Chinese’
‘Strawberry’
CD at 5%
9.40.41127.20
13.1
13.5
10.1
12.4
11.8
10.6
11.8
11.8
11.2
11.3
12.1
11.6
10.6
11.8
12.0
10.7
13.2
12.8
11.6
9.6
10.5
1.06
0.42
0.58
0.62
0.79
0.61
0.95
0.64
0.72
0.45
0.58
0.55
0.73
0.46
0.53
0.42
0.54
0.37
0.79
0.52
0.96
0.89
0.06
94.40
141.40
169.53
71.37
114.60
67.27
51.90
97.70
93.30
86.40
58.70
65.00
189.73
171.73
187.13
165.10
184.20
165.63
156.96
72.80
77.13
7.24

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Sharma, A. et al. / Not. Bot. Hort. Agrobot. Cluj 38 (1) 2010, 28-32
32
friedrichsthalianum have not been used for hybridization
programmes (Prakash et al., 2002).
The cluster tree analysis based on morphological char-
acterization divided the guava genotypes into two major
clusters at a similarity coefficient of 0.19-0.50 (Fig. 1).
Cluster I comprised of ‘Spear Acid’ which merged with
‘Super Max Ruby’ at a similarity coefficient 0.25 and
these two further joined with ‘Chakaiya Rehmannagar’
and ‘Gutaniwala’ at a similarity coefficient value of 0.37.
Cluster II consisted of the remaining 18 genotypes. This
cluster was further branched into two sub-clusters, A and
B at a similarity coefficient of 0.20. Sub-cluster A had 8
genotypes that included one of the species i.e. P. friedrich-
sthalianum which clubbed together with ‘Nasik’, ‘Hafsi’
and ‘Apple Colour’. A high similarity coefficient (0.50)
between ‘Hafsi’ and ‘Apple Colour’ was noted. ‘Allaha-
bad Safeda’ and ‘Hisar Safeda’ were also present in this
sub-cluster at a similarity coefficient of 0.37. The remain-
ing 10 genotypes were part sub-cluster B. P. catlleianum
being a separate species, was present solely at one of the
extremes of dendrogram. The rest of the 9 cultivars of P.
guajava were placed in this sub-cluster. ‘Barafkhana’ and
‘White Flesh Sour’ were highly similar as illustrated by a
high similarity coefficient of 0.50.
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Fig. 1. Dendrogram showing morphological diversity between 22 Psidium
genotypes based on morphological characterization