CHARACTERIZATION OF LEAF FEATURES IN SOME BLACKBERRY GENOTYPES COLLECTED FROM THE BLACK SEA REGION

Abstract

In this study, morphological characterization studies regarding to leaf characteristics (leaf length, leaf width, leaf cross section shape, leaf edge waviness, swelling between leaf veins, leaf tooth depth, dominant leaflet number, leaf shape, green color intensity on the upper part of the leaf and brightness on the upper part of the leaf) were carried out in some blackberry genotypes collected from the Black Sea Region of Turkey, according to the definition lists of UPOV (International Association for the Protection of New Plant Varieties). The measurements and observations made were transformed into feature scores, and using these scores, dendrogram and principal component analysis (PCA) related to morphological features were obtained. In the dendrogram obtained according to the morphological characterization data, the similarity level between the materials was determined between 0.50-1.00 and the average similarity coefficient was found as 0.75. The dendrogram consists of 2 main clusters (A and B). According to the dendrogram, genotypes obtained from Samsun (Çarşamba 1), Samsun (Çarşamba 2) and Ordu (Gülyalı), Bartın (Center) and Rize (Küçükçayır) regions were found to be the closest genotypes with 1.00 similarity level. In addition, as a result of the principal component analysis (PCA), the similarities and differences within the blackberry genotypes were clearly revealed. It was determined that they consisted of three main groups and two outer groups in their distribution on the two-dimensional plot.As a result of the study, it was determined that there is a certain level of variation between blackberry genotypes. The data obtained from this study will help to protect the diversity and to evaluate it with different studies.