Fiber flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) morphological and phenological characterization of genotypes

Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) is a all- purpose plant cultivated for its fiber and seeds, with wide-ranging applications in industries such as textiles, oil paint industry, paper, food, and pharmaceuticals. In the study was aimed to determine the morphological and phenological characteristics of some flax genotypes, and 118 flax genotypes and 4 standard cultivars (Rolin, Crista, Giza-11, Giza-12) were included. In this study carried out under greenhouse conditions, the morphological and phenological characteristics examined were evaluated according to UPOV (International Union for The Protection of new Plant Varieties) and IPGRI (International Broad For Plant Genetic Resources) criteria. Among the flax genotypes, plant height ranged from 49.5 cm to 110.0 cm, and technical stem length varied from 36.5 cm to 86.6 cm. The variance of technical stem length among genotypes (87.08%) was found to be higher than that of the standard varieties (36.97%). While the vegetative period of the genotypes varied between 60 and 118 days, the vegetative periods of the standard varieties determinened between 86 and 92 days. A significant positive correlation was determined between plant height and technical stem length (r=0.808**), stem diameter (r=0.469**), lateral branch number (r=0.265**), and capsule number (r=0.256**). Among the 118 flax genotypes examined in the study were determined 3 genotypes white, 20 genotypes white-blue, 37 genotypes blue, 35 genotypes blue-violet, 19 genotypes violet, 4 genotypes dark violet. Moreover, among flax genotypes were found 20 flax genotypes free petals, 28 genotypes medium petals, and 70 genotypes overlapping petals. Flax genotypes showed significant differences in terms of leaf arrangement and leaf length. It is thought that it may be useful to examine the effect of this difference on plant height and seed yield in further studies. In the principal component analysis, plant height, technical stem length, stem diameter, number of lateral branches, number of capsules, capsule diameter, number of seeds, which are located in the PC1 (36.02%) and PC2 (20.29%) axis in terms of morphological characteristics, were determined to be used as the selection criteria for further breeding studies. The 47 flax genotypes that are similar to each other in terms of plant height, technical stem length, stem diameter, number of lateral branches, number of capsules per plant, number of seed in the capsule, capsule diameter as a result of cluster analysis and desired for fiber type flax breeding were transferred to the gene pool for flax breeding studies. Furturemore, in PC1 (16.65%) and PC2 (12.89%) components, where the variance in terms of phenological characters is high, flowering time, leaf width, leaf length, petal color, petal shape, flower shape, corolla color and corolla size can be selected for further flax breeding studies, and It has been concluded that it can be used as a criterion and there is a need for detailed studies on this subject.