Abstract
Establishment of a core collection, of limited size and better representation of the whole germplasm phenotypic diversity, is fundamental for fruit tree breeding programs from an economic and management points of view. To achieve this goal with pomegranate fruit trees, 221 genotypes were evaluated for 25 morphological and pomological traits during two successive years. Using the maximization strategy in Power Core software, 12 out of 221 pomegranate genotypes were selected for the new core collection, reducing the population size to 5.42% of the entire collection. Variance difference (VD%) and mean difference (MD%) were calculated as 42.68% and 7.03% in core collection, respectively. This indicates an excellent diversity amongst genotypes within the core collection. The Shannon’s diversity index (H′) in the formed collection suggested that 19 out of 25 phenotypic variables were of high diversity. Results showed that core collection genotypes are equally presented in all three population groups formed by cluster analysis through the original collection. The current research is the first in using phenotypic data to establish a core collection of Iranian pomegranate germplasm. The formation of this core collection will be an effective step towards examining the diversity of the original population and breeding prospects.
Highlights
Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is native to central Asia, some areas of Iran and that was broadcasted to other parts of the world [1,2,3,4]
The observations on 25 traits were recorded for all 221 genotypes
A high variability was recorded for the number of fruits per tree, fruit mean weight and thorn in mature wood branch, fruit size, fruit skin thickness, fruit symmetry, and aril color
Summary
Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is native to central Asia, some areas of Iran and that was broadcasted to other parts of the world [1,2,3,4]. Extensive cultivation of pomegranate in tropical and subtropical regions in a new changing climatic context indicates the high adaptability and flexibility of this species [5]. With an annual production of more than 1 million tons and a cultivated surface of 89,400 ha, Iran is one of the largest pomegranate producers in the world [8]. Phenotypic variability in this tree species is the result of the creation of none “trueto-type” seedlings of pomegranate due to about 13% outcrossing [9] and morphological. Various studies have been conducted worldwide on the biological diversity of pomegranate to collect, preserve, and evaluate its germplasm [13,14,15]
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