Varietal Classification by Multivariate Analysis on Quantitative Traits in Pecan

Twenty two varieties of pecan including wild types were classified based on 6 characters measured by principal component analysis score distance. The results are summarized as fellow. Twenty two varieties were classified into 5 groups based in PCA score distance. Five groups were distinctly characterized by many morphological characters. Total variation could be explained by 51%, 95%, 99% with first, third and fifth principal components respectively. Varimax rotation of the factor loading of the first factors indicated that the first component was highly loaded with leaf characters, the second component with fruit characters, but fruit length was negative loaded. The second, the third and the fourths groups of cultivars had very close genetic parentage similarity.