Variations in Phytophenol Compounds in Association with Morphological Traits in Trigonella spp. Accessions

Aims: To investigate the interrelationship between morphological traits and several phytophenol compounds as important essential oils in 23 fenugreek (Trigonella spp) accessions.

Study Design: The experimental design was a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) replicated in two growing seasons.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Natural Resources, Fars Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Shiraz, Iran in the years 2015 and 2016.

Methodology: Several agronomic and morphological traits were measured in the field. Leaf tissue samples were used to extract phytophenol compositions by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method.

Results: The results of analysis of variance revealed that the year × accession interaction was not significant for phytophenol compounds whereas morphological traits were affected by this variance component. Great variations were found for phytophenols. Simple correlation analysis revealed that except quercetin most of phytophenols were not associated with morphological traits but multivariate statistical analysis techniques demonstrated association of these two sets of variables. Trans-ferulic acid, p-Coumaric acid, rutin and hesperidin were the most important phytophenol compounds associated with shoot fresh weight. Several phytophenols had direct and positive relation with shoot fresh weight whereas several others decreased as shoot fresh weight were increased. Quercetin was significantly associated with most of morphological attributes.

Conclusion: The outcome of this study provides more options to breeders in terms of several unresolved issues in fenugreek with respect to phytophenol compositions and their associations with important morphological traits.