Abstract

Nardostachys jatamansi DC. is an endangered medicinal and aromatic plant species. Considering the status and importance, there is an urgent need of its conservation, cultivation and crop improvement. Variability studies may serve as an important tool for effective conservation and crop improvement program. Therefore, germplasm was collected from different natural population and transplanted in Tungnath. Different morphometric traits along with essential oil content (%) were used for variability analysis. Cluster 3 (accession NJ5 and NJ6) showed best performance among most of the studied characters. Therefore, germplasm should be collected from Tungnath and the Valley of flowers population for large scale cultivation.

Key words: Cluster composition, D² statistics, endangered, environmental regime, variabilities.