The Relevance of Discovering and Recovering the Biodiversity of Apulian Almond Germplasm by Means of Molecular and Phenotypic Markers

Abstract

Almond cultivation has great traditional and economic relevance in Southern Italy, especially in the Apulia region, where almond trees feature an ample and ancient varietal richness. To contrast the loss of plant genetic erosion and to safeguard the available bioresources, as well as to reinforce the local production, the regional Re.Ge.Fru.P. project aimed to re-evaluate, identify, and characterize the Apulian almond germplasm that is still uncharacterized and not jet studied using a dual (genetic and morphological) approach. Collection was conducted in the regional territory of 187 among the most widespread and minor or marginalized genotypes that were molecularly fingerprinted by means of 18 nuclear microsatellites (simple sequence repeats, SSRs). The high number of scored alleles reflected the great level of diversification within the Apulian germplasm, as also confirmed by neighbor joining and structure analysis, that clearly distinguished different genotype clusters. The phenotypic characterization using 17 morphological and phenological descriptors mirrored the genetic results, revealing a high degree of variability. The morphological traits with the best discriminatory ability were nut ventral suture, shell softness and shape and petal color. This work emphasizes the importance of recovering the genetic variability of Apulian almond germplasm, and the need to promote added value and enhance the local agri-food economy.

Composition and Biological Properties of Blanched Skin and Blanch Water Belonging to Three Sicilian Almond Cultivars

“…According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports, more than 3 million tons of almonds are produced each year [ 2 ]. Currently, the United States (California) is confirmed as the world leader in almond production (78%), followed by Australia, Spain, Turkey, and Italy (8%, 6%, 3%, and 2%, respectively) [ 6 , 11 ]. In this context, the preference for Italian almonds is constantly growing and cultivation of almonds in Sicily is experiencing a phase of great interest due to their unique aromatic taste [ 3 ].…”

Genetic Relationships of 118 Castanea Specific Germplasms and Construction of Their Molecular ID Based on Morphological Characteristics and SSR Markers

“…At present, rapid development and increasing sophistication of molecular marker technologies will help overcome the limitations of phenotypic traits. The combination of phenotypic and molecular-based methods will help to identify varieties more accurately and comprehensively [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ]. In this study, the phenotypic cluster analysis divided 118 materials into four groups, and the phenotypic traits of the varieties differed significantly among the groups; however, the phenotypic traits of the varieties within each group did not differ significantly.…”

Positioning Portugal in the Context of World Almond Production and Research

“…As said before, self-incompatibility of most almond cultivars coupled with the extensive use of seeds for propagation plays an important role in the vast genetic diversity observed within this species [74,75]. Several research works have used simple sequence repeat (SSR) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) molecular markers to study the genetic diversity and relatedness of numerous accession and cultivars from Spain [77][78][79], Italy [80][81][82], Iran [83] Australia and the United States of America [84,85]. All these works evidence that the geographical diversity of the accessions of the studied collections is reflected on their genetic diversity.…”