Guava (Psidium guajava L.) is a nutraceutical commercial fruit crop of the subtropics. Twenty-one accessions of round or Gola cultivars were collected from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) provinces having diverse climatic conditions. This indigenous germplasm bore investigation for 17 physicochemical fruit traits. The assessment sought to estimate variability and population structure. Accessions collected from Punjab had greater genotypic diversity and a wider genetic base than accessions from KPK. Several accessions proved superior for economically important consumer-related fruit traits, including fruit weight (FW), fruit size (FS), total soluble solids (TSS), ratio of TSS to titratable acidity (TA), and total sugars (TS). Most physical traits displayed positive correlations, whereas chemical traits had a negative correlation. Accessions with larger fruit size and fewer seeds indicated an association with lower TSS. Prevailing low temperatures in both areas enhanced fruit size and decreased total sugars. The principal component analysis (PCA) depicted higher loadings of FW, seed cavity weight (SCW), number of seeds (NS), and TS and grouping of most accessions of a locality in one cluster. The selected accessions, as vegetatively propagated, could serve as candidate varieties used for genetic association studies and as parental lines for the development of hybrids with better horticultural traits.

Keywords: Guava germplasm, biodiversity, fruit quality, principal component analysis, breeding

Key findings: The Round accessions, G₁, G₅, G₁₃, and G₁₈, are suitable candidates for better fruit weight and size. Meanwhile, the apple guava G₉ could be a strong parental candidate for reduced number of seeds, higher TSS, TSS:TA, and dark red skin—a consumer-preferred trait.