STUDY ON VARIATION OF KARYOTYPES BETWEEN AND WITHIN SPECIES OF SALVIA OFFICINALIS L., STACHYS BYZANTINE L. AND DRACOCEPHALUM MOLARICA L.

Abstract

The first step in cytogenetic research is the investigation on karyotypes of valuable species because this survey supplemented valuable information for plant breeder. In this research, karyotype of three drug plants such as Salvia officinalis L., Stachys byzantine L. and Dracocephalum molarica L. was studied in a completely randomized design with four replications (each replication included 10 samples). These plants were collected from different areas of East Azerbaijan province of Iran by agriculture experts. The aim of this research is to study karyology such as the number of chromosomes, length of each chromosome, length of long and short arms, and centromer index. Dracocephalum molarica has five pairs of chromosomes including three pairs of metacentric chromosomes and two pairs of sub-metacentric chromosomes. The length of chromosomes in this species is between 0.714 and 1.301 micron. The difference between chromosomes in respect of length is significant by Duncan's multiple range test at alpha=0.05 level. All chromosomes length was 9.914 micron in mitotic metaphase. One pair of chromosome has satellite at its end. Salvia officinalis L. has seven pairs of chromosomes and the average of all chromosomes length is 12.488 micron in mitotic metaphase. This species has three pairs of sub-metacentric chromosomes and four pairs of metacentric chromosomes. Stachys byzantine has four pairs of chromosomes and the mean of length is between 0.886 and 1.40 micron. This species has two pairs of metacentric chromosomes and one pair of sub-metacentric chromosome. There isn't any significant variation among individuals of Stachys byzantine L. and Dracocephalum molarica L. by multivariate analysis at alpha=0.05 level; however, variation was obtained among individuals of Salvia officinalis L. by multivariate analysis and discriminate analysis by wilks' Lambda statistics.