Abstract
Garlic (Allium sativum L.) that is cultivated in Tunisia is heterogeneous and unclassified with no registered local cultivars. At present, the level of genetic diversity in Tunisian garlic is almost unknown. Inter Simple Sequence Repeats (ISSR) genetic markers were therefore used to assess the genetic diversity and its distribution in 31 Tunisian garlic accessions with 4 French classified clones used as control. It was the first time that ISSR markers were used to detect diversity in garlic. Seventeen ISSR primers were screened; seven primers detected 73 polymorphic bands. A high level of polymorphic loci (p) was found in Tunisian populations (54%). Nei’s total genetic diversity coefficient was 0.45 and 0.34 respectively for Tunisian and French garlic. Genetic distances observed between Tunisian accessions, ranged between 38.4 and 78.1%. Factor analysis of distances’ table (AFTD) did not classify accessions on the base of geographical origin or morpho-physiological characters, particularly bolting ability, but confirmed the appurtenance of analyzed accessions to sativum botanical subspecies. There was sufficient diversity detected to start a national collection of garlic germplasm which is crucial for the conservation of genetic diversity and its valorization. Keywords: Allium sativum L., ISSR markers, genetic diversity, Tunisian garlic populations.
Highlights
Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is a heterozygote (Satyesh, 1978) diploid specie (2n=16) (McCollum, 1987)
There was sufficient diversity detected to start a national collection of garlic germplasm which is crucial for the conservation of genetic diversity and its valorization
7 to 21 polymorphic bands were generated with an average of 12, which is comparable to those detected by Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) in garlic produced from true seeds (12.8-13.9, Ipek et al, 2005) and in populations of leek (11, Smilde et al, 1999)
Summary
Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is a heterozygote (Satyesh, 1978) diploid specie (2n=16) (McCollum, 1987). It is generally not fertile and, propagated by cloves. The sativum group, probably derived from longicuspis forms in West Asia more than 3000 years ago, has been grown in the Mediterranean area since ancient times (Etoh and Simon 2002). It has spread from there throughout the world during the last 500 years (Maab and Klaas, 1995). Despite a long history of obligate apomixes, cultivated garlic exhibits a large amount of morphological, physiological and bio-chemical variations (Etoh and Simon, 2002; Lallemand et al, 1997)
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