Diversity and Relationships among Durum Wheat Landraces (Subconvars) by SRAP and Phenotypic Marker Polymorphism

Germplasm characterization is essential and molecular markers provide valuable information for breeding programs. Sequence-Related Amplified Polymorphism (SRAP) and phenotypic markers were studied to determine diversity and relationships among 40 subconvares of Triticum durum landraces from the region of North West of Iran and Azerbaijan. The 12 combinations of forward and reverse SRAP primers were used to evaluate the 38 landraces and two cultivars and produced 65 scorable markers, of which 56.730% was polymorphic for all 40 genotypes. As to phenotypic markers, 27 quantitative traits were evaluated in field with 4 replications, 22 of them (81%) were found to be polymorphic. The UPGMA (UN weighted-Pair Group Method Arithmetic average) dendrogram based on the 27 phenotypic markers distinguished all genotypes, but failed to detect any geographic association in durum landraces. The UPGMA dendrogram based on the 12 combinations of SRAP markers distinguished landraces, it was concurs with subconvars grouping characteristic (traits of major gene). SRAP markers are useful for studying diversity and relationships among and have potential in marker-aided selection, linkage mapping and evolutionary studies.