Diversity of loquats (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) cultivated in Lebanon as assessed by morphological traits

•This is the first report on the assessment of the Lebanese loquat germplasm.•Fruit and seed quantitative traits were the most discriminate traits between accessions.•Accessions clustered in three groups according to fruit traits and time introduction.•Local Saidaoui was positioned close to foreign accessions introduced earlier into the country.•We pave the road towards the conservation of loquat germplasm and breeding programmes.

Native of China, loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) spread in the ancient times to other countries including Lebanon where it is growing in different agroclimatic areas; its fruits, first harvested in spring season, are subject to an important local and export market. Yet, there are no available records or information about loquat accessions or varieties growing in Lebanon. Therefore the present work is a part of the first study conducted on the assessment of loquats cultivated in Lebanon. Thirty accessions were characterized in their cultivated habitats located between 34 and 1250 m of altitude by using nine qualitative and 13 quantitative descriptors. A large variability was revealed among accessions, particularly for fruit characteristics. Principal components analysis showed that fruit size, flesh weight and thickness, number of panicles on central branches and seed weight were the most significant traits. Globally, qualitative traits showed more variability within Baladi accessions while quantitative traits revealed larger variability for the imported accessions. Regarding the relationship between accessions, both PCA bi-plot and the dendrogram constructed according to Jaccard distance clearly separated the Lebanese germplasm in three main groups. One group constituted of Baladi accessions distinguished by their small fruits, a second one formed by the old foreign accessions that have been introduced into the country in the fifties and a third one clustering the foreign accessions introduced later in the nineties and bearing big fruits. This study needs to be completed by a DNA analysis, in order to confirm the genetic distances among accessions.