Evaluation of Genetic Diversity among Jordanian Pomegranate Landraces by Fruit Characteristics and Molecular Markers

Abstract

The level of variation in various fruit traits was described among 14 Jordanian pomegranate landraces and the genetic relatedness was investigated using RAPD and SSR markers. Euclidean distances among studied landraces ranged from 3.33 to 12.01, with a mean of 7.65. Fruit and aril traits explained the variation in the first component (28.92%), while other traits were present in the second (17.615) and third (12.81%) components, and therefore contributed less to the variability. Genetic distances based on RAPD scores ranged from 0.24 to 0.66, indicating that considerable level of divergence exists among studied pomegranate landraces. The set of SSR markers used in this study was monomorphic, which might be due to the fact that available SSR markers are too few to identify polymorphic SSR markers to differentiate between landraces present within a small geographic area. Multivariate analysis showed that dendrograms constructed based on fruit related traits as compared with that based on RAPD scores were not consistent. Pomegranate landraces displayed high variability in fruit and aril related traits, which could be considered a valuable source of genes for commercial uses. Results revealed the presence of small seeded variety that has large arils. High morphological and RAPD variation exist among Jordanian pomegranate landraces could be exploited in pomegranate breeding.