Genetic Diversity of Purslane Populations of Iran Based on Some Morphological and Biochemical Traits

Portulaca oleracea L. is a medicinal plant belonging to Portulacaceae family, which exhibited a wide scope of pharmaceutical properties such as pain killer, antipyretic, anti-viral and anti-fungal. The aim of the present study was evaluation of morphological diversity 18 populations of P. oleracea. The seeds of 18 populations were cultivated based on a completely randomized design with three replicates in the research farm of Medicinal Plants Research Center, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran. The morphological traits, chlorophyll and protein contents were measured in the vegetative stage. The analysis of variance showed that there was a significant difference among populations of P. oleracea in terms of the most studied morphological and biochemical traits. The highest shoot dry weight (84.84±12.70 g per plant) belonged to the Zanjan population, while the lowest shoot dry weight (18.89±1.72 g per plant) belonged to the population of Lourdgan. The correlation between most of the studied traits was positively significant. The cluster analysis of the 18 P. oleracea populations based on morphological and biochemical traits produced three main clusters. Overall, the outcomes of the present study were indicated the presence of high genetic variability among the P. oleracea populations. Our findings suggested that collection of the plants from different regions can be used for hybridization to generate useful recombinants in the segregating generations and improve breeding varieties of P. oleracea and can be utilized for preservation and maintenance the germplasm of this medicinal plant.