Assessment of genetic diversity among some Iranian hazelnut genotypes using SSR markers

Abstract Studying genetic diversity is a preliminary step for conservation and utilization of germplasm. Talesh hills, located in Guilan province in northern part of Iran, are one of the main areas for natural distribution of hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.). Hazelnut trees in Talesh Mountains are a wild population (land race) and obtained from open-pollinated seedling. In this research, a population including 90 hazelnut samples was studied using 15 microsatellite markers. Totally, 98 polymorphic alleles were detected with an average of 6.53 alleles per locus. The lowest numbers of 3 alleles were observed in CaC-B005 and CaC-C114 and the highest number of 12 alleles in CaC-C101 locus. The average effective number of alleles (3.75), mean expected heterozygosity of (He=0.70) and average observed heterozygosity of (Ho=0.62) were estimated for studied loci. All loci showed high PIC with an average of 0.72 that the highest amount detected in CaC-B011 and CaC-B101 loci with values of 0.85 and 0.84, respectively. A dendrogram was generated by UPGMA clustering method that placed the 90 accessions into 7 main loose groups. According to the results a high genetic diversity was found in the studied population that mainly related to the hazelnut pollination nature that shows sporophytic incompatibility system enhancing out-crossing in natural populations

Rapid micro-propagation of Aloe vera L. via shoot multiplication

Aloe vera L. is a medicinal plant. Regeneration of A. vera in nature (in vivo) is too slow and insufficient to meet the industry demand. Therefore, it is necessary to use in vitro propagation for rapid plant production. Explant used for the in vitro culture was shoot tip. The shoot tip explants was disinfected with 2% NaOCl and washed thoroughly with sterile water. Then, explants were placed on solid MS medium with the addition of various concentrations of benzyladenine and ∝-naphthaleneacetic acid. After 8 weeks, the best proliferation of shoot per explant (9.67) and the best rooting was shown on the medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/l benzyladenine + 0.5 mg/l ∝ naphthaleneacetic acid. The rooted plantlets were gradually acclimatized in plastic pots containing a mixture of cocopeat and perlite (1:1) covered with transparent plastic. About 95% of the transplanted plantlets survived