Cichorium intybus
L. (chicory) is an important medicinal plant with significant economic
potential and has recently gained rapid momentum in the functional food
sector. In the present study, soil chemistry, phytochemical, and
molecular diversity were assessed for 50 accessions of chicory collected
from diverse agro-climatic zones. In total, 64 common metabolites were
identified from the leaves of 7 chicory accessions collected from
different altitudes and among them, the predominant metabolites included
methyl commate B (6.3–10.14%), gamma sitosterol (2.79–9.3%), and 9, 12,
15-octadecatrienoic-acid (2.55–8.42%). Three terpenoid compounds, viz.,
betulin, kolavelool and betulinaldehyde, were observed at high
altitudes (1790, 1901, and 2172 m) and not observed at low altitudes.
Among these compounds, betulin had the highest concentration with an
average value of 23.53% followed by kolavelool with 7.37% and
betulinaldehyde with 7.21%. For molecular diversity analysis, 12 ISSR
primers were selected for PCR amplification and 86 bands were generated
with an overall polymorphism percentage of 67.44%. The observed Nei’s
genetic diversity (H) and Shannon’s information indices (I) were highest for the Pulwama (CIN-PU) group of accessions (H = 0.222 ± 0.018; I = 0.343 ± 0.027) and lowest for the Baramulla (CIN-BM) group of accessions (H = 0.115 ± 0.019; I
= 0.173 ± 0.028). The Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) analysis
revealed 56% variation existing within the groups and 44% among the
groups of chicory accessions. This study shows that chicory populations
vary considerably in terms of their molecular and phytochemical
composition as a function of their geographic location. Furthermore,
this study demonstrates that chicory phytochemical and molecular
diversity are significantly influenced by altitude, soil chemistry, and
growing conditions. Using metabolomics and altitudinal variation,
cluster analysis showed that geographic origin was correlated with
diversity patterns.