Abstract
Developing late-leafing genotypes is crucial for mitigating the impact of late-spring frosts in walnut cultivation. Marker-assisted selection (MAS) offers a rapid screening approach for walnut populations in breeding programs, addressing the long breeding cycle. This study aimed to validate Turkish molecular markers associated with leafing date in the Iranian walnut populations and to implement MAS to identify late-leafing genotypes. Two polymorphic SSR primers, ‘JRHR209732’ and ‘CUJ-RBO12’, were validated using 14 early- and late-leafing cultivars/genotypes. MAS was then implemented for a population of 91 Iranian walnuts from a breeding program. The results indicated the effective differentiation of the Iranian population using the markers from Turkey, suggesting genetic similarity between the walnut populations of the two countries. Furthermore, alleles with band sizes of 277 and 115 were associated with late-leafing, while band sizes of 289 and 92 indicated early-leafing. Phenological data over three consecutive years, along with SSR analysis, confirmed the validation and implementation of MAS. The SSR analysis identified 14 alleles across all accessions, with an average of 7 alleles per locus. High leafing time variation was observed in the studied population, and cluster analysis identified four major clusters, revealing similarities and dissimilarities among the accessions. Finally, genotypes ‘Ch35T12’, ‘ChLa1’, ‘ChFr2’, ‘ChFr3’, ‘Ped35T1’, ‘Ped35T4’, ‘PedLa1’, ‘PedLa3’, ‘PedOp1’, and ‘ChPed2’ were identified as late-leafing genotypes based on screening with late-leaf alleles.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Iran National Science Foundation (INSF), Center of Excellence for Walnut Improvement and Technology of Iran, the University of Tehran, Cukurova University, Russian Science Foundation and Kuban Science Foundation (Project No. 22-16-20061) for their supports.
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Conceptualization: KV, SK, SS, DH, MR, MMA, HK, IS, and AP; Data curation: MF, SK, MMA, HK, and AP; Formal Analysis: MF; HK, and AP; Funding acquisition: KV and SK; Methodology: MF. SK, MMA, and AP; Project Administration: KV and SK; Resources: MF, MR, DH, SS, SK, MMA, HK, AP, IS, and KV; Validation: MR, DH, SS, SK, MMA, HK, AP, IS, and KV; Writing—original draft preparation: MF; Writing review and editing: MR, DH, SS, SK, MMA, HK, AP, IS, and KV; All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the Manu-script.
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Fallah, M., Paizila, A., Karcı, H. et al. Validation and implementation of marker-assisted selection (MAS) for the leafing date trait in Persian walnut populations from Iran. Euphytica 220, 25 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-023-03281-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-023-03281-3