Diversity of Nut and Seedling Characteristics and Its Relationship to Habitat Climate in Some Almond Species

Abstract

This study carried out to evaluate variations and relationships of nut size, seedling morphological attributes and habitat climatic parameters in of Prunus scoparia (Spach) C. K. Schneid populations in comparison to three other almond species. A total of 10 populations including seven populations of P. scoparia and three of other almond species including P. elaeagnifolia Spach., P. eburnea Spach., and P. dulcis Mill. were raised from seeds in greenhouse condition. Results showed noticeable variations in the studied seedlings characteristics within and among the populations. Among P. scoparia, Nourabad, Shiraz and Lordegan populations were superior to other populations in most of the measured traits. Useful correlations were observed between nut and seedling traits, among them, the highest correlation (r = 0.89) was between nut weight and leaf width. Altitude and annual precipitation correlated positively with some of the nut and seedling characteristics (ranging from r = 0.13 to r = 0.33). Based on principal components analysis (PCA), the first three components explained 76.2 % of the total variation of morphological characteristics. Using cluster analysis as well as a bi-plot of PCA, the genotypes classified into two main clusters of wild and domesticated populations. The main cluster of the wild populations divided into three sub-clusters based on their botanical categorization, whilst P. scoparia populations clustered based on geographic proximity and climate similarity. Results may have important implications for managing these genetic resources as well as their use in future breeding programs especially for the development of new rootstocks for almond and stone fruits.

Keywords

• cluster analysis
• diversity
• principal components analysis
• prunus scoparia
• wild almond