Six canola (Brassica napus) varieties were used in this study which was chosen as a
representative s ample of commercial canola varieties used for oil production. The objectives of this
study were; 1) cluster the varieties understudy using the morphological characters oil and protein
percentages, 2) estimation the genetic diversity among varieties understudy using RہPD markers,
and 3) find the correlation between RAPD and morphological diversity. Data showed that the
averages of all varieties for oil and protein percentages were 39.38 and 16.77, respectively.
Euclidean distances based on oil and protein percentages were calculated. Their values ranged from
14.14 to 92.05 and the average of the distances was 42.9. This data indicated that the amount of
phenotypic variation among the varieties was relatively high. The cluster diagram based on
Euclidean distance separated varieties into two groups. Also, data of the 10 random primers used
indicated a total of 401 scorable bands. Total amplified DNA fragments were 93 and number of
DNA fragments per primer varied from 6-13. Total polymorphic fragments were 55 with an average
of 57.76% polymorphic fragment per primer. The similarity coefficient values based on RAPD
markers ranged from 0.11.1 to 0.261 with an average of 0.183. The conducted dendogram showed
that five varieties formed one main cluster. RAPD results (81.7% divergence) indicated higher
diversity than indicated by oil and protein morphological markers (42.9%). Finally, Mantel test was
calculated to find out the correlation between RAPD markers and morphological characters
matrices. A lack of correlation was obtained (r = -0.08992) and many possible reasons were
discussed. |
