Evaluation of the economic characteristics of the fruit of 45 superior Camellia weiningensis Y.K. Li. trees

PLoS One. 2022 May 26;17(5):e0268802. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268802. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Reports related to Camellia weiningensis Y.K. Li. are rare. We evaluated the economic characteristics of the mature fruit of 45 superior C. weiningensis trees using principal component analysis (PCA) and gray correlation analysis, and identified excellent germplasms according to performance. PCA was employed to reduce the dimensions. PCA was performed for the original 15 indices of fruit diameter, fruit length, fruit shape, single-fruit weight, pericarp thickness, oil yield, fresh seed rate, dry seed rate, dry kernel rate and palmitic acid, stearic acid, linolenic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid and arachidonic acid contents. According to the requirements of a cumulative contribution rate ≥ 80% and an eigenvector value > 1, six principle components were selected. These indices underwent weighted summation to establish a function model for comprehensive evaluation. Finally, the comprehensive rankings of the cultivars according to PCA were compared with those according to gray correlation analysis. The genetic variation coefficients of the 15 parameters ranged from 2.24% (oleic acid content) to 22.70% (single-fruit weight, with a range of 21.34 g). The top ten excellent cultivars with the highest comprehensive scores according to PCA and those according to gray correlation analysis were compared. According to PCA, oleic acid content, fruit diameter, fruit length, pericarp thickness, arachidonic acid content and dry seed rate can serve as representative evaluation indicators of C. weiningensis. The outcomes obtained based on PCA were basically consistent with those obtained based on gray correlation analysis. Finally, nine excellent cultivars were finally determined, i.e., WY-1, WY-6, WY-8, WY-25, WY-27, WY-30, WY-33, WY-35, WY-38 and WY-44. The results obtained in terms of crown yield were basically consistent with the outcomes of the comprehensive assessments, which indicates the reliability of the assessment methods used in this study.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Arachidonic Acid
  • Camellia* / genetics
  • Fatty Acids
  • Fruit / genetics
  • Oleic Acid
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Trees

Substances

  • Fatty Acids
  • Arachidonic Acid
  • Oleic Acid

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the Science and Technology Plan Project of Guizhou Province of China (Qian Ke He zhicheng[2019]2310) to CG. This work was also supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32060331), Science and Technology Project of Guizhou Education Department (Qian jiao He KY[2018]097), Cultivation Project of Guizhou University ([2019]35), and Research Project of Introducing Talents in Guizhou University ([2017]41) to LY. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.