Morphological and molecular characterization of banana clones growing in Turkey

Abstract

This study was conducted to estimate genetic relationships among banana clones growing in Turkey via some morphological parameters and two molecular marker systems. In terms of yield parameters such as bunch weight, hand number, fruit weight, and total fruit number, Grand Nain (GN) clone came to the forefront with the highest values. It was followed by Azman (AZ), Dwarf Cavendish (DC), and Erdemli Yerli (EY) clones, respectively. To see the variation between clones more clearly, 24 RAPD (Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA) primers and 48 SRAP (Sequence Related Amplified Polymorphism) primer combinations were used in molecular analysis. The total number of amplified bands was 194, and 142 of them were polymorphic for RAPD analysis. The total and polymorphic bands per primer ranged from 0 to 14. A total of 272 bands were obtained from SRAP analysis, of which 154 were polymorphic. The total number of bands per primer varied between 0 and 11, and the number of polymorphic bands varied between 0 and 10. According to the dendrogram formed by unweighted pair group method with arithmetic averages (UPGMA) analysis, clones were collected in two main groups. In all evaluation methods, EY was completely separated from the other clones. GN, DC, and AZ were gathered on a single branch in the dendrogram. As a result of the SRAP assessment, DC and GN were the closest related clones. Contrary to the SRAP results, GN and AZ were identified as the most genetically related clones in morphological and RAPD assessments. This study showed that morphological and molecular characterization could be useful to assess the relationship among banana clones.