Genetic Diversity Among Juglans Regia Genotypes Based on Morphological Characters of Nut

What is it about?

Walnut germplasm from three different sites in Oltenia region, located in the southwestern part of Romania, was evaluated to determine the variability and to identify promising types. A total of 64 genotypes were evaluated using morphological characteristics of nuts. Considerable genetic variation in the measured traits was found in native trees which were of seedling origin. Variability found was between 7.62–20.90 g in nut weight, between 31.17 and 53.60 mm in nut length, between 24.81 and 37.48 mm in nut diameter I, and between 23.64 and 36.18 mm in nut diameter II. Separation of the three areas in multivariate space was assessed by calculating the Mahalanobis distance. The highest inter-populations value was observed between Bechet and Ostroveni population (1.83), followed by Sadova and Ostroveni population (1.08), which indicates a wide genetic distance between these populations. Cluster analyses showed a considerable diversity within the same germplasm population. The results indicated that most of genotypes were suitable in terms of morphological traits of nut. These data demonstrated large phenotypic diversity of nut among the selected genotypes that can be considered as a valuable gene stock for breeding programs.

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