Morpho-Biochemical Diversity and Elite Hybrid Selection in Amrapali × Sensation Mango (Mangifera indica L.) Progenies

Morpho-Biochemical Diversity and Elite Hybrid Selection in Amrapali × Sensation Mango (Mangifera indica L.) Progenies | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Morpho-Biochemical Diversity and Elite Hybrid Selection in Amrapali × Sensation Mango (Mangifera indica L.) Progenies Gulshan Kumar, Jai Prakash, Manish Srivastav, Kanhaiya Singh, and 10 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9452264/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 12 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Mango ( Mangifera indica L.) is among the most valued tropical fruits, recognized for its taste, nutrient profile, and worldwide significance. The increasing preference for cultivars with increased sweetness, nutrition and dietary quality has created a strong impetus for targeted and trait-oriented breeding. In this study, 35 hybrids derived from an Amrapali × Sensation cross were comprehensively evaluated for morpho-biochemical diversity, integrating detailed sugar and organic acid profiling with quantitative morphological traits that are critical to fruit quality. The hybrids displayed wide phenotypic variability, with both intermediate and transgressive segregation across fruit, stone, peel, and pulp traits. Fruit size varied substantially (length: 63.71–121.45 mm; weight: 70.48–324.69 g), whereas significant differences were observed in fruit shape, peel thickness, and pulp recovery. Biochemical profiling revealed broad variation in TSS (12.63–22.03 °Brix), sucrose (16.01–74.46 mg/g), glucose (4.55–24.78 mg/g), fructose (5.00–25.41 mg/g), and organic acids, including ascorbic acid (1.79–9.71 mg/g) and citric acid (1.03–11.74 mg/g). Multivariate analyses, including PCA, correlation, and hierarchical clustering, successfully dissected trait variability, with PCA identifying a clear size-quality block and hierarchical clustering grouping progenies into four different clusters. Notably, transgressive segregation for traits such as the pulp: stone ratio (up to 9.28) and TSS (22.03 °Brix) indicates the potential for selecting superior recombinants among the progenies. Overall, this study demonstrates the identification of superior hybrid progenies and the effectiveness of crossbreeding among heterozygous mango hybrids in generating genetic variability, while establishing morpho-biochemical profiling and multivariate analysis as strong tools for identifying elite ideotypes for future mango improvement programs. Biological sciences/Biotechnology Biological sciences/Genetics Biological sciences/Plant sciences Phenotypic variability Sugars Organic acids Nutritional Transgressive segregants Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 17 May, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 17 May, 2026 Reviews received at journal 17 May, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 16 May, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 15 May, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 15 May, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 15 May, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 28 Apr, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 28 Apr, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 28 Apr, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 21 Apr, 2026 First submitted to journal 21 Apr, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9452264","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":632382665,"identity":"0130942a-b95b-4d73-a93c-a5d02eaf1fd1","order_by":0,"name":"Gulshan Kumar","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Gulshan","middleName":"","lastName":"Kumar","suffix":""},{"id":632382666,"identity":"3dbbde5e-9c1a-40a9-8462-9e6b5f01982c","order_by":1,"name":"Jai 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Progenies","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Phenotypic variability, Sugars, Organic acids, Nutritional, Transgressive segregants","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9452264/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9452264/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eMango (\u003cem\u003eMangifera indica\u003c/em\u003e L.) is among the most valued tropical fruits, recognized for its taste, nutrient profile, and worldwide significance. The increasing preference for cultivars with increased sweetness, nutrition and dietary quality has created a strong impetus for targeted and trait-oriented breeding. In this study, 35 hybrids derived from an Amrapali \u0026times; Sensation cross were comprehensively evaluated for morpho-biochemical diversity, integrating detailed sugar and organic acid profiling with quantitative morphological traits that are critical to fruit quality. The hybrids displayed wide phenotypic variability, with both intermediate and transgressive segregation across fruit, stone, peel, and pulp traits. Fruit size varied substantially (length: 63.71\u0026ndash;121.45 mm; weight: 70.48\u0026ndash;324.69 g), whereas significant differences were observed in fruit shape, peel thickness, and pulp recovery. Biochemical profiling revealed broad variation in TSS (12.63\u0026ndash;22.03 \u0026deg;Brix), sucrose (16.01\u0026ndash;74.46 mg/g), glucose (4.55\u0026ndash;24.78 mg/g), fructose (5.00\u0026ndash;25.41 mg/g), and organic acids, including ascorbic acid (1.79\u0026ndash;9.71 mg/g) and citric acid (1.03\u0026ndash;11.74 mg/g). Multivariate analyses, including PCA, correlation, and hierarchical clustering, successfully dissected trait variability, with PCA identifying a clear size-quality block and hierarchical clustering grouping progenies into four different clusters. Notably, transgressive segregation for traits such as the pulp: stone ratio (up to 9.28) and TSS (22.03 \u0026deg;Brix) indicates the potential for selecting superior recombinants among the progenies. Overall, this study demonstrates the identification of superior hybrid progenies and the effectiveness of crossbreeding among heterozygous mango hybrids in generating genetic variability, while establishing morpho-biochemical profiling and multivariate analysis as strong tools for identifying elite ideotypes for future mango improvement programs.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Morpho-Biochemical Diversity and Elite Hybrid Selection in Amrapali × Sensation Mango (Mangifera indica L.) 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