Determination of Field Performance and Molecular Discrimination of Clementine Mandarin Selections

Abstract

Clementine (Citrus clementina) is one of the most important mandarins with high yield and good fruit quality. Actually Clementine may be considered as a group instead of only one cultivar because of many Clementine clones exist in the world. Also it has been cultivated for a long time in Turkey, and therefore variations for agronomical traits are likely among cultivated Clementines due to bud mutations and hybridizations. The objectives of this study were to determine variations for some selected agronomical traits and genetic markers among 6 new Clementine clones ('A-21', 'A-67', 'A-68', 'A-82', 'A-90' and 'D-22') derived from selections. Tree growth, yield, fruit quality, and molecular discrimination of these clones were determined. After four years of evaluation, 'D-22' indicated the highest canopy volume. For yield per tree, the best clone was also 'D-22'. The highest fruit weight obtained from 'A-82'. Among the clones 'A-21' contained the lowest seed number and the highest total soluble solids/total acidity ratio. Molecular analysis, as assessed with 12 inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) primers, indicated that selections were separated with markers. Similarity values among the Clementine selections were between 0.97 and 1.00. According to our results low level of genetic diversity was determined among selections and it can be concluded that variations in orchards are abundant and mainly due to mutations