Morphological and molecular characterization and relationships of Turkish local eggplant heirlooms

Abstract

A total of 38 eggplant genotypes, of which 32 were heirloom accessions collected from different regions of Burdur province five were different local genotypes from other provinces, and one was a cultivar, were used as reference in this study. The phylogenetic relationships among these heirlooms were evaluated using 40 morphologic descriptors and five randomly amplified polymorphic RAPD markers. The horizontal dendrograms were created by using UPGMA with both morphologic and molecular data. Burdur heirloom accessions showed high genetic diversity based on morphological and molecular data. The genetic similarity rates ranged from 0.29 to 0.91 according to the morphological data, and ranged from 0.84 to 0.98 according to the molecular data. Molecular data generated by RAPD method, compared to morphological data, were insufficient to reveal genetic diversity. Therefore, in order to confirm genetic variations, studies based on other molecular methods are necessary. The regional genetic populations include a wide eggplant genetic diversity which can be good source for the breeding studies performed in the future.