Abstract
Date palm is among the top three fruit crops of Pakistan which is grown throughout the country except the northern highlands. This study was conducted for evaluation of morphological, chemical and molecular diversity of date palm cultivars in Pakistan. Twenty two morphological parameters of fruit, leaf and trunk of forty five locally adapted cultivars were studied for this purpose. Proximate analysis of the date fruit was also done. Morphological traits of trunk, leaves and spines had no significant correlation with fruit traits. Seven components were found to explain 81% variability in the data set by principal component analysis. Length and width of leaf, weight, volume, diameter and length of fruit, weight of pulp, weight of seed, height of perianth, total soluble solids, % moisture, % total sugars and % reducing sugars largely contributed to variability among the cultivars. Forty six simple sequence repeat markers were used to find genetic diversity in date palm cultivars under study. Only two out of forty six SSR markers showed polymorphism with amplification of five amplicons in total. Only two of the tested markers amplified
Highlights
Date palm is among the top three fruit crops of Pakistan which is grown throughout the country except the northern highlands
Phenotypic data were subjected to a multivariate technique called principal component analysis using Minitab software version 16
This study shows the use of phenotypic traits, proximate composition of fruit and molecular markers to evaluate diversity and characterize date palm cultivars in Pakistan
Summary
Date palm is among the top three fruit crops of Pakistan which is grown throughout the country except the northern highlands. This study was conducted for evaluation of morphological, chemical and molecular diversity of date palm cultivars in Pakistan. Twenty two morphological parameters of fruit, leaf and trunk of forty five locally adapted cultivars were studied for this purpose. Forty six simple sequence repeat markers were used to find genetic diversity in date palm cultivars under study. A reliable technique of shakri, BegumJhangi, Fasli, Dhaki, characterization would be very useful for Halawi and Zahidi are some of the the improvement of such crops. This will important commercial cultivars [4]
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