Table 6. Hierarchical ascendant classification (HAC) of an apple core collection in six clusters according to nine morphological traits measured at the end of the experiment. Information of the physiological traits for each group is also presented.
| Clusters | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traits | A1.1 | A1.2 | A2 | B1.1 | B1.2 | B2 |
| No. of genotypes | 17 | 20 | 32 | 17 | 56 | 41 |
| Morphological traits (whole-plant) | ||||||
| f_Bio (g) | 147 a | 110 c | 124 b | 113 bc | 107 c | 85 d |
| f_LA (cm2) | 2906 a | 2354 b | 2878 a | 2166 bc | 2226 b | 1933 c |
| H (cm) | 144 a | 119 c | 127 bc | 130 b | 124 bc | 102 d |
| Nb_L (#) | 43.98 ab | 41.25 c | 46.26 a | 43.89 b | 45.28 ab | 40.82 c |
| BS_diam (mm) | 8.67 b | 8.49 bc | 9.15 a | 8.63 b | 8.21 cd | 8.09 d |
| Morphological traits (metamer with the longest internode) | ||||||
| IN_L_max (mm) | 45.05 a | 40.73 b | 35.59 cd | 41.37 b | 35.76 c | 33.84 d |
| IN_diam (mm) | 6.87 b | 6.67 bcd | 7.20 a | 6.75 bc | 6.51 cd | 6.39 d |
| Leaf_area (cm-2) | 77.36 a | 75.92 ab | 70.34 b | 57.57 c | 59.24 c | 57.63 c |
| Leaf:shoot (g g-1) | 0.76 b | 0.78 a | 0.76 b | 0.74 c | 0.77 b | 0.78 a |
| Physiological traits | ||||||
| Plant_T (g day-1) | 239 a | 218 b | 236 a | 214 b | 211 b | 195 c |
| Leaf _T (g cm-2 day-1) | 0.1276 ab | 0.1326 ab | 0.1236 ab | 0.1387 a | 0.1351 a | 0.1348 ab |
| WUE (g g-1 day-1) | 0.0121 a | 0.0102 bc | 0.0092 c | 0.0101 bc | 0.0104 b | 0.0089 c |
| Percentage of reduction relative to cluster A1.1 | ||||||
| f_Bio | -25 | -16 | -23 | -27 | -42 | |
| Plant_T | -9 | -1 | -10 | -12 | -18 | |
For each group and trait, a one-way ANOVA was performed to estimate cluster effects. For each variable, mean values with different letters indicates significant differences between groups according to Tukey’s test and a P<0.05. See Table 1 for the interpretation of traits abbreviation.