Study of Association between Molecular Markers and Fruit Characters in Hazelnut Using Multiple Regression Analysis

This study was carried out to evaluate association of ISSR and RAPD markers with fruit traits of hazelnut (Corylus avellana). In this research, associations between ISSR and RAPD markers with fruit traits were investigated in 35 genotypes of hazelnut by applying multiple regression analysis (MRA). Some ISSR and RAPD fragments were found to be associated with seven of affecting fruit traits. Some of ISSR and RAPD markers were associated with more than one fruit trait in multiple regression analysis. Such an association may arise due to pleiotropic effect of the linked quantitative trait locus (QTL) on different traits. For example, some informative markers were associated with both nut length and kernel weight traits. Also, some informative markers showed association with all nut length and weight and kernel weight. Also, some markers had correlation with both kernel length and weight, indicating a significant correlation among these traits. It is possible to use these markers along with morphological traits in hazelnut breeding programs for identification of suitable parents to produce mapping populations and hybrid cultivars. Also, these results could be useful in marker-assisted breeding programs when no other genetic information is available.