A Survey of genetic diversity of Glycyrrhiza glabra L. some populations using morphological and phytochemical characteristics

The licorice is a perennial herb of the Fabaceae family, which is native to the Mediterranean, south of Russia and Asia, but is now cultivated throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia. This plant grows in different regions of Iran. Although, from north to south of Iran, licorice carcasses come to the car, but since this plant is extracted from the ground, it gradually decreases in nature, so that in southern provinces of the country, especially the provinces of Fars and Kerman, this plant danger of extinction, so special attention is increasingly given to maintaining the heritable reserves of this plant more and more. quantitative and qualitative study of this plant in the natural habitats of different regions of the country has a significant role in identifying the best ecotypes for cultivation and domestication of this medicinal plant.

In order to study the diversity of morphological and functional traits of different populations in Zanjan climate, after collecting populations in autumn, they were cultivated in a randomized complete block design with 5 replications. Morphological and functional traits of different populations were evaluated late in the growing season. Plant height, plant width, leaf length, leaf width, leaf number, leaf length, leaflet width, lateral branch, main stem diameter, fresh shoot weight, root fresh weight, shoot dry weight and root dry weight, ratio Root to shoot, shoots yield, root yield, total phenol, total flavonoid and Glycyrrhizic acid were investigated. Data were analyzed using SAS and SPSS software. For cluster analysis, the cluster analysis was performed by input method and factor analysis was done using the Variomax rotation method.

The results of analysis of variance showed that there was a significant difference among 22 licorice populations for all studied traits at 1% level. The highest plant height in population AH (9 cm) was the highest plant width in population E (86.6 cm), the highest fresh weight in the population D (400.4 gr / plant), the highest root fresh weight in population E (356.2 gr / Plant) had the highest shoots yield in the population D (643.75 gr / m2) and the highest root yield in population E (692.25 gr / m2) and the highest percentage of Glycyrrhizic acid in population D (8.3%). The root yield was significantly correlated with plant height, plant height, main stem diameter, leaflet length, lateral branch number, fresh weight of shoot, root fresh weight, dry shoot weight, root dry weight, shoot yield, total phenol, total flavonoid and glycyrrhizic acid. There was a positive and significant correlation between dry weight ratio of root and shoot in 5%, but no significant correlation was observed between leaf length, leaf width, leaf number and leaf width. Based on the results of cluster analysis, 22 populations were divided into four main groups. Factor analysis showed that the first four factors were able to justify 84.184 percent of the total variance.

The overall results of this study showed that there is a great diversity among the studied populations on the basis of morphological and functional traits. According to the results of D, E, MS, SH, SP, and TF populations, they have desirable traits and proper yields and were identified as the most desirable populations in this research, which indicates high genetic potential among different populations and which can be considered as superior populations in breeding projects in order to create high quality and desirable food industries and the medicine was used.