Morphological and molecular characterization of some olive (Olea europaea) cultivars in El-Arish, Egypt

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza -12619, Egypt

2 Plant Production Department, Faculty of Environmental Agricultural Sciences, Arish University, El-Arish, North Sinai, Egypt

3 Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza -12619, Egypt/National Biotechnology Network for Expertise- Egypt

Abstract

Morphological characters, along with three different random PCR based markers, (ISSR, SCoT, and RAMP) were used to characterize and to assess the genetic diversity among the main nine olive cultivars in El-Arish, Egypt. Analyses of 16 morphological characters revealed the existence of a recorded genetic variability among the studied cultivars. Moreover, 12 ISSR primers, 13 SCoT primers, and 11 RAMP primer combinations (PCs) produced 197, 242, and 172 of total loc with 163, 236, and 140 of them being polymorphic respectively. Average polymorphism information content (PIC value) of 0.26, 0.31, and 0.26 detected for ISSR, SCoT, and RAMP markers respectively.  Based on morphological and the selected molecular markers, the nine olive cultivars were grouped in two distinct clusters. The highest genetic similarity observed was that between Teffahi and Ageezi, while the least similarity was that recorded between Ageezi Shami and Koroneiki.
The tested marker systems would serve as a complementary tool to provide a more complete understanding of the diversity available in olive populations in Egypt.

Keywords