Classification of chestnut genotypes (Castanea sativa Mill.) by morphological traits

The aim of this study was classified on 28 chestnut genotypes grown in Inegol County (Bursa province, Turkey) with regard to pomological traits. Correlation analysis showed that relation between nut weight and nut size have been found positive and significant, caliber and nut size negative and significant, caliber and nut weight negative and significant, teeth width and shell thickness negative and significant, and teeth width and petiole length positive and significant. All other relations have been found non-significant. In order to find the main origins of variation among nut and leaf traits, principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on average values by using SPSS for Windows. Four factors were extracted by principal component analysis, which explains 68.94% of the total variation. The group components consist of the following characteristics; the first component (PCA1: 25.350%); nut size, caliber, nut weight; the second component (PCA2: 19.110%); teeth width, petiole length, shell thickness; the third component (PCA3: 13.129%); petiole thickness, tooth length, fruit setting; the fourth component (PCA4: 11.353%); distance between teeth, lamina width and length.