S-Genotype Profiles of Azerbaijan Apricot Germplasm

Apricot is one of the important export products of Azerbaijan. Some studies showed that unproductiveness problem of apricots together with increasing production areas arises because of self-incompatibility. In flowering plants, gametophytic self-incompatibility, controlled by a single locus with several allelic variants, is one of the major problems preventing self-fertilization. Among fruit trees, apricots show a high degree self-incompatibility, especially in Middle-Asian and Iranian-Caucasian eco-geographical groups. In this study, the S-genotypes of a set of 61 Azerbaijan apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) cultivars were determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of their S-RNase intron regions. In addition, the S-genotyping method was extended to the S haplotype-specific F-box (SFB) gene to detect the non-functional SC-haplotype and hence identification of self-compatible apricot cultivars were carried out by using four primer pairs (SRc-F and SRc-R, EM-PC2consFD and EM-PC3consRD, AprSC8-R and PaConsI-F, AprFBC8-F and AprFBC8-R). A total of 9 S-RNase alleles (S2, S3, S6, S7, S8, S11, S12, S13 and Sc) were determined in the 61 apricot genotypes. As Azerbaijan apricot genotypes are determined to be mostly self-incompatible, the data obtained hereby might be of good use for apricot breeding programs and more practically, for new apricot plantations; thus, pollinator cultivars should be considered when self-incompatible apricot cultivars are being used

Genetic diversity among melon (Cucumis melo L.) accessions revealed by morphological traits and ISSR markers

The genetic relationships among 48 melon (Cucumis melo L.) genotypes collected from various parts of Azerbaijan were determined by comparing their phenotypic and molecular traits. Eleven agromorphological traits and 10 polymorphic inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) primers were used to define the genetic diversity. Principal component analysis grouped the agromorphological traits into the first four axes, describing 78% of the total variations. The highest genetic variation coefficient was found for yield per hectare (20.32%) and for fruit length (17.35%). Calculated heritability for yield was 0.96. The analysis of morphological traits grouped the accessions into four clusters. The 10 ISSR primers yielded 35 polymorphic alleles, representing 85.4% of all the amplified loci. The average genetic diversity index determined was 0.70. The highest and the lowest similarity indexes were equal to 0.97 and 0.36, respectively. The 48 accessions were grouped into 10 clusters based on ISSR markers. Correlation between distance matrices based on agromorphological traits and ISSR markers was not statistically significant (r = 0.012)

Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: A Synopsis of Coordinated National Crop Wild Relative Seed Collecting Programs across Five Continents

The Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change Project set out to improve the diversity, quantity, and accessibility of germplasm collections of crop wild relatives (CWR). Between 2013 and 2018, partners in 25 countries, heirs to the globetrotting legacy of Nikolai Vavilov, undertook seed collecting expeditions targeting CWR of 28 crops of global significance for agriculture. Here, we describe the implementation of the 25 national collecting programs and present the key results. A total of 4587 unique seed samples from at least 355 CWR taxa were collected, conserved ex situ, safety duplicated in national and international genebanks, and made available through the Multilateral System (MLS) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty). Collections of CWR were made for all 28 targeted crops. Potato and eggplant were the most collected genepools, although the greatest number of primary genepool collections were made for rice. Overall, alfalfa, Bambara groundnut, grass pea and wheat were the genepools for which targets were best achieved. Several of the newly collected samples have already been used in pre-breeding programs to adapt crops to future challenges.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Functional Diagnostics and Genetic Prognosis Models of Seed Viability and Longevity

<p>These studies aimed creation of universal models suitable for plants belonging to various taxonomic groups, and enabling to give functional diagnostics and genetic prognosis of viability potentials and longevity of their seed samples. In the example of plants belonging to diverse taxonomic groups, new approach is proposed for functional diagnostics of viability potential of seeds and their longevity in individual samples and for making genetic prognosis. Based on this, universal practical models with high decisive capacity have been elaborated and quality factors have been worked out.</p&gt

Assessment of genetic diversity and search for Plum pox virus resistance alleles of apricot<i> (Prunus</i><i> armeniaca</i> L.) genotypes spread in Azerbaijan using SSR markers

Apricot is one of the most important stone-fruit plants widely cultivated in Azerbaijan. SSR markers were used to evaluate the genetic diversity of 61 apricot genotypes representing the entire gene pool in Azerbaijan. A total of 138 alleles were produced based on 17 SSR markers with an average of 8.1 alleles per primer. The polymorphism information content (PIC) and expected (He) heterozygosity for individual loci were in the range of 0.42-0.8 (mean 0.68) and 0.52-0.82 (mean 0.72), respectively, indicating the abundant genetic variation in Azerbaijani apricot cultivars. The polymorphisms generated by SSRs were enough to differentiate 95% of genotypes, while 4 apricot cultivars exhibited complete similarity between them. NJ tree grouped the 61 genotypes into 7 clusters with 1000 bootstrap values, where the grouping of genotypes was not closely related to the geographic origin or collection site. STRUCTURE analysis identified 4 subpopulations in the collection and, in general, was in agreement with cluster analysis. (SEO)/Harlayne-type resistance alleles of three SSR (PGS1.21-240 bp, PGS1.23-161 bp, PGS1.24-119 bp) and one SSLP loci (ZP002-127 bp) were detected in 3, 15, 15, and 9 accessions, respectively. STRUCTURE analysis could separate genotypes with resistance alleles grouping them in the first two subpopulations. Of the 61 apricot genotypes, 28 had at least one resistance allele. The results demonstrate that Azerbaijani apricots are an important source for breeding PPV-resistant apricots

Genetic diversity of chickpea genotypes as revealed by ISSR and RAPD markers

Genetic diversity of 62 chickpea accessions was studied using 8 ISSR and 11 RAPD primers. In the study RAPD primers detected more polymorphism (98%) than the ISSR primers (80%). Genetic diversity index was high (0.73 for ISSR and 0.85 for RAPD) for each of these marker systems. Cluster analysis performed from both separate and combined data of RAPD and ISSR markers using SPSS software package. Jaccard’s similarity coefficient for 62 chickpea genotypes was 0.65. Cluster analyses based on combined data generated a dendrogram that separated genotypes into 11 clusters. Four clusters contained only one genotype showing the genetic uniqueness of these accessions. The studied chickpea collection has been proved to constitute a rich source of biodiversity as revealed by RAPD and ISSR markers. Crossing between distantly related genotypes is expected to yield more vigorous plants constituting much of the different traits contained in the two parental lines

Genetic relationship among introduced lentil germplasm using agronomic traits and ISSR markers

Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) is an annual, cool-season grain legume playing an important role in human and animal nutrition, as soil fertility maintenance. National lentil improvement program in Azerbaijan is currently focused on extending the genetic base of the lentil collection through the introduction of new breeding lines from ICARDA and involving them into breeding. The present study was aimed to evaluate the performance of lentil collection, mainly comprised of ICARDA-derived breeding lines for yield traits under Azerbaijan condition and assess genetic diversity among them using inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) markers. Many breeding lines of ICARDA exhibited agro-morphological performance superior to those of the local improved varieties. Our studies confirmed that the genetic base of the studied lentil collection is quite above board. A total of 71 bands were generated using 7 ISSR primers in 47 lentil genotypes, of which 62 were polymorphic. Genetic diversity values varied from 0.61 (UBC 848) to 0.95 (UBC 835), with a mean of 0.81. ISSR dendrogram was able to clearly distinguish all lentil accessions. Clear tendention was observed on clustering of genotypes according to their pedigree or origin with few exeptions. The results obtained from the Principal Coordinate Analysis were consistent with the results of cluster analysis, with minor differences. Breeding lines with high agronomic performance and sufficient genetic distance from this study can be used as appropriate parents to get more heterotic recombinants. This will accelerate the creation of new varieties well adapted to eco-geographic condition of Azerbaijan with stable and high yield