## 3 Results
### Genetic Diversity Analysis
The DARwin-based UPGMA dendrogram also resolved 50 accessions in 7 major clusters (Figure 6). These clusters were exclusively formed based on the existing genetic variation among the accessions collected from different sites in the Kashmir region. Cluster-I comprised a total of 11 accessions mainly collected from the Bandipora district, cluster-II comprised 5 accessions collected from the Bandipora and Anantnag districts, cluster-III comprised 10 accessions collected from the Ganderbal and Pulwama districts, cluster-IV comprised 6 accessions collected from the Pulwama district, cluster-V comprised 6 accessions collected from the Baramulla and Anantnag districts, cluster-VI comprised 6 accessions collected from the Budgam district, and cluster-VII comprised 6 accessions collected from the Srinagar district. These seven major clusters formed sub-clusters based on the genetic differences among the accessions. Accession no. 21 collected from the Anantnag district was more distant as revealed by the PCoA plot and UPGMA dendrogram (Figures 5 and 6). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline
**Pop ID** & **CIN-BD** & **CIN-BM** & **CIN-AN** & **CIN-SR** & **CIN-GA** & **CIN-PU** & **CIN-BU** \\ \hline CIN-BD & 0.000 & & & & & & \\ CIN-BM & 0.579 & 0.000 & & & & & \\ CIN-AN & 0.352 & 0.586 & 0.000 & & & & \\ CIN-SR & 0.649 & 0.686 & 0.607 & 0.000 & & & \\ CIN-GA & 0.590 & 0.698 & 0.482 & 0.634 & 0.000 & & \\ CIN-PU & 0.378 & 0.390 & 0.285 & 0.577 & 0.386 & 0.000 & \\ CIN-BU & 0.618 & 0.690 & 0.555 & 0.587 & 0.637 & 0.462 & 0.000 \\ \hline \end{tabular}  
* [PERSON]’s unbiased measure of the genetic distance among the groups of accessions of chicory ranged from 0.217 (between CIN-AN and CIN-PU) to 0.588 (between CIN-BM and CIN-GA) as shown in Table 9.  
\end{table} 
Table 8: \(F_{ST}\) distance among the groups of accessions of _C. intybus_. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline
**Pop ID** & **CIN-BD** & **CIN-BM** & **CIN-AN** & **CIN-SR** & **CIN-GA** & **CIN-PU** & **CIN-BU** \\ \hline CIN-BD & 0.000 & 0.001 & 0.001 & 0.001 & 0.001 & 0.001 & 0.001 \\ CIN-BM & 0.483 & 0.000 & 0.011 & 0.006 & 0.005 & 0.001 & 0.010 \\ CIN-AN & 0.286 & 0.479 & 0.000 & 0.001 & 0.001 & 0.001 & 0.004 \\ CIN-SR & 0.538 & 0.580 & 0.492 & 0.000 & 0.001 & 0.001 & 0.008 \\ CIN-GA & 0.490 & 0.588 & 0.392 & 0.530 & 0.000 & 0.001 & 0.002 \\ CIN-PU & 0.300 & 0.308 & 0.217 & 0.453 & 0.305 & 0.000 & 0.001 \\ CIN-BU & 0.506 & 0.570 & 0.439 & 0.481 & 0.523 & 0.356 & 0.000 \\ \hline \end{tabular}  
* The DARwin program was used to construct the principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and UPGMA hierarchical dendrogram. On the PCoA plot, genetically differentiated chicory accessions are grouped along the coordinate axes (Figure 5). Accessions collected from Budgam and Ganderbal showed greater dispersion compared to the accessions collected from other districts. However, accessions collected from the Srinagar district showed lesser dispersion and grouped together along the axes system. The DARwin-based UPGMA dendrogram also resolved 50 accessions in 7 major clusters (Figure 6). These clusters were exclusively formed based on the existing genetic variation among the accessions collected from different sites in the Kashmir region. Cluster-I comprised a total of 11 accessions mainly collected from the Bandipora district, cluster-II comprised 5 accessions collected from the Bandipora and Anantnag districts, cluster-III comprised 10 accessions collected from the Ganderbal and Pulwama districts, cluster-IV comprised 6 accessions collected from the Pulwama district, cluster-V comprised 6 accessions collected from the Baramulla and Anantnag districts, cluster-VI comprised 6 accessions collected from the Budgam district, and cluster-VII comprised 6 accessions collected from the Srinagar district. These seven major clusters formed sub-clusters based on the genetic differences among the accessions. Accession no. 21 collected from the Anantnag district was more distant as revealed by the PCoA plot and UPGMA dendrogram (Figures 5 and 6).  
\end{table}