Morphological features of the inflorescence in jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.) accessions from the VIR collection

Abstract

Background. Jerusalem artichoke (Heliánthus tuberósus L.) is a valuable crop grown for feed, food, industrial and medicinal purposes. Studying biological, geographic, environmental, taxonomic and other features of this species is a vital task, whose solution will help, first of all, to disclose the variability of its traits, develop its intraspecific system, and work out methods for researching into the morphology of Jerusalem artichoke. Analyzing morphological features of its inflorescence and flower is one of the basic components of such a study. Materials and methods. The material for the research was the collection of Jerusalem artichoke maintained in a live condition at Maikop Experiment Station. The inflorescences of 58 accessions were analyzed to investigate eleven traits. Statistical analysis was carried out using StatSoft’s Statistica 13.0 software package. Results and conclusion. The greatest differences among the groups, formed according to geographic origin, were observed in the number of inflorescences per plant and the number of false ligulate florets in the inflorescence. The length of tubular florets was constant within the species, being 1.4 cm; as the most stable trait, this descriptor probably may be used as a diagnostic tool for this species. The accession ‘Sakhalinsky Krasny 4’ (Sakhalin population of Japanese origin) was the most distinctive, as regards the set of its characteristics.

Keywords

• jerusalem artichoke
• helianthus tuberosus l.
• inflorescence
• morphological features