An Analysis of Genetic Diversity in Some Iranian and Foreign Sweet Cherry (Prunus avium L.) Cultivars Using RAPD Molecular Marker

RAPD markers through an application of 23 decamer primers were employed for genetic diversity analysis of some sweet cherry cultivars. Bands with good resolution and high repeatability were selected for evaluations. The 23 primers produced 188 bands, among which, 153 were polymorphic. Cluster analysis of the cultivars was performed based on the presence (1) and absence (0) of the bands, using Jaccard's similarity coefficient and UPGMA method. The highest similarity (0.80) was detected between Doraghe Shomareye Yeke Karaj and Gilase Shomareye 28 while the lowest (0.30) between Dir-rese Italia and Shoaosaltan cultivars. In cluster analysis at a distance of 0.55 similarity, the cultivars were divided into 8 sub-clusters in some of which Iranian and foreign cultivars stood side by side with each other. Cophenetic coefficient of R=0.82 between similarity matrices and the dendrogarm showed the goodness of fit for the dendrogram and similarity data. Grouping of cultivars through cluster analysis was shown to be highly in line with the reported pollination incompatibility groups of some of these cultivars. According to the obtained results, there was a relatively high diversity observed among the examined cultivars. Besides, this experiment showed RAPD markers to be a proper technique for studying the genetic diversity in sweet cherry.