Evaluation of genetic diversity of figs (Ficus carica L.) in Sulaymaniyah governorate using morphological, pomological and ISSR molecular marker

Abstract

The fig (Ficus carica L.) is a fruit tree that is important in the Mediterranean region, and thus genetic improvement has become an important field of research for better crops, with information on this species, particularly its genetic variability correlated to morphological traits of figs, for this purpose, the cultivars and wild types distributed in Sulaymaniyah province were investigated. Samples from 66 fig accessions were collected, 15 primers for ISSR markers were used to describe genetic variation, with 12 morphological traits. Analysis of variance recorded highly significant differences concerning plant morphological and pomological traits in addition to genetic diversity. The highest values for shoot length (79.959 cm), internode diameter (15.563 mm), leaf length (28.183 cm), leaf width (28.480 cm), leaf petiole length (13.397 cm) and leaf petiole diameter (18.360 mm) recorded in AC17, AC41, AC20, AC20, AC17 and AC24, respectively. However, the lowest values (11.120 cm, 4.340 mm, 10.910 cm, 9.813 cm, 3.987 cm and 2.323 mm) for the mentioned traits were recorded in AC14, AC12, AC12, AC12, AC37 and AC52, respectively. The highest values for fruit weight (63.447 g), fruit length (46.960 mm), fruit thickness (60.420 mm), fruit stalk length (29.887 mm), fruit stalk diameter (10.433 mm) and ostiole diameter (8.717 mm) were given by AC03, AC22, AC54, AC58, AC58 and AC14, successively. Whereas the lowest values (4.483 g, 14.770 mm, 18.497 mm, 2.373 mm, 2.533 mm and 2.557 mm) were observed in AC37, AC37, AC12, AC08, AC25 and AC30, successively. The first two principal components analysis (PCA) described 49.15% of the total quality variance. ISSR marker produced 197 polymorphic bands. The genetic diversities ranged as (0.883 to 0.980) and polymorphism information content (PIC) ranged as (0.878 to 0.979), with 100% polymorphism levels. The fig accessions classified into 10 clusters by dendrongram created by ward method. The results indicated that natural fig populations in this region provide a rich genetic resource for fig germplasms, and significant genetic variation across accessions originating from different populations, as well as the marker was informative for genetic variability detection in the collections. The findings of this study could support in the conservation and further utilization of fig germplasm.