Author(s)

Abdelali Elhamzaoui, Ahmed Oukabli, Jamal Charafi, Mohiéddine Moumni

Moulay Isma?l University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Zitoune, Meknès, Morocco.
Research Unit of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources, Regional Agricultural Research Centre of Meknes, National Agronomic Research Institute, Meknes, Morocco.

Assessment of genetic diversity of Moroccan cultivated almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) grown from seed and cultivated at four eco-geographical regions was performed using 16 nuclear SSRs. 238 alleles were detected with an average of 14.88 alleles per locus, ranging from 4 (locus BPPCT027) to 24 (locus CPSCT018). The size of alleles ranged from 84 bp (locus UDP96-003) to 253 bp (locus UDP96-018). A high genetic diversity of the local almonds is apparent and structured into three major clusters (Oasis cluster, High and Anti Atlas cluster, and Middle Atlas cluster). Compared to the Mediterranean genetic pools, from the East to West, the genetic diversity tends to be limited in Morocco which is the area of its extreme diffusion.

Almond; Genetic Diversity; Polymorphism; Spatial Genetic Structure; Prunus dulcis; Microsatellites; SSR

A. Elhamzaoui, A. Oukabli, J. Charafi and M. Moumni, "Assessment of Genetic Diversity of Moroccan Cultivated Almond (Prunus dulcis Mill. DA Webb) in Its Area of Extreme Diffusion, Using Nuclear Microsatellites," American Journal of Plant Sciences, Vol. 3 No. 9, 2012, pp. 1294-1303. doi: 10.4236/ajps.2012.39156.