Chemotypic variation in niloticin, psoralen, quercetin and stigmasterol in wood apple (Limonia acidissima L.) leaves

Wood apple (Limonia acidissima L., Rutaceae) is a medium to large-sized semideciduous tree native to Indian subcontinent. The Indian systems of medicine recognized this tree for its medicinal properties and nutritional fruit. The present study evaluates chemotypic diversity by using HPTLC method for identification of elite genotypes among 96 accessions of wood apple leaves collected from diverse populations across 16 states of India. Here, the multivariate analysis, including the extent of variation, broad sense heritability, genetic advance, correlation of mean value of each replicate were assessed with respect to four target bioactive molecules (quercetin, stigmasterol, psoralen and niloticin) extracted from leaves of wood apple. The results showed that the analysis of variance revealed significant variabilities for all the four biomolecules analysed. The hierarchical clustering grouped all the accessions into eight clusters. Out of which, cluster II and VI contained a maximum of 20 and 18 genotypes, respectively. Cluster VIII consisted of only three genotypes. The intra-cluster distance ranged from 0 (cluster II to VIII) to 6.83 (cluster I). The highest inter-cluster distance was found between clusters V and VII (22.52). Positive correlation was found between chemotypic traits at both the genotypic and phenotypic level. The broad sense heritability was recorded highest for quercetin (97.7%). The high genetic advance was noticed for niloticin (217.4). This study detected significant chemotypic variation among the accessions. The elite accessions identified in this study could be utilized to enhance the quality, efficacy and economic value of medicinal products.