A total of 179 garlic (
Allium sativum L.) accessions were collected from various parts of Nepal in 2000. Each accession was planted in each of a plot of 2.25 m
2 at the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS) Horticulture farm (225 m asl) and at the Agriculture Research Station,
Dailekh (1400 m asl) of Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC) in the first week of November 2000. All accessions were
characterized for leaf erectness, leaf color, leaf wax, leaf cross section, bulb regularity, bulb skin color, bulb outer scales
number, days to emergence, bulbing period, number of green leaves at 135 days after planting, days to maturity, plant height,
bulb weight, bulb diameter, number of cloves per bulb, clove diameter and bulb yield. Data were analyzed by using principal
component and cluster analysis procedures to reveal three major clusters. Four principal components were identified explaining
more than 86% of total variation. Major characters included in the principal components were bulb weight, diameter, yield,
number of cloves per bulb, maturity, plant height, number of green leaves at 135 days after planting, and bulbing period.
The level of variation found in the collection showed the great potentiality of improving agronomic characters in garlic.
Keywords Allium - Cluster analysis - Garlic - Genetic diversity - PCA