Assessment of genetic variation between some Libyan date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) cultivars using molecular markers

Abstract

This study was conducted on three different levels; the first level was to study some morphological traits of date palm fruits under investigation to detect the variation among the different date palm genotypes under investigation on the morphological level. The second level was to distinguish between these eight date palm genotypes under investigation biochemically by analyzing the tannin, total sugar and reducing sugar contents to discriminate between these date palm genotypes under investigation on biochemical level. The third level was to discriminate between the eight date palm genotypes under investigation which collected from three different sites in Libya on the molecular level using inter simple sequences repeats (ISSR), sequences related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP). The results indicated that in General, the eight date palm genotypes under investigation were significantly varied in their fruit morphological traits and that revealed the biodiversity among these date palm genotypes under investigation on the morphological level. The results of sugar and tannin contents revealed that, the eight date palm genotypes under investigation were significantly varied in their total sugar, reducing sugar and tannin contents. These results revealed the biodiversity among these date palm genotypes under investigation on the biochemical level. On the molecular level, the Results of inter simple sequences repeats (ISSR), sequences related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) revealed a kind of biodiversity on the molecular level.