This study aimed to characterize onion genotypes grown in Santa Catarina state, Brazil and to estimate their genetic variability. Fifteen onion genotypes were evaluated in two locations, Ituporanga and Lages. The experimental design was of randomized blocks with three replications in each environment. We evaluated the length of the pseudostem, number of leaves per pseudostem, stem diameter, bulb diameter, height of the bulb, bulb weight, height:diameter ratio; total production of bulbs, bulb shape, flowering percentage and percentage of rotten bulbs. The data were subjected to multivariate analysis of variance. The results showed significant effects for genotype-environment interaction, fact that was reflected in the values of dissimilarity in each location. A matrix of dissimilarity was prepared using Mahalanobis distance method. The morphological and agronomic traits used were sufficient to characterize the genotypes, indicating that breeding programs have a wide genetic base for the development of new cultivars.
Allium cepa; multivariate analysis of variance; dissimilarity; Mahalanobis distance
