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Physiological, morphological, chemical and genomic diversities of different origins of thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.)

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Abstract

For the selection of donors with valuable characteristics for breeding, 39 thyme accessions were evaluated in three years according to a staggered schedule. The criteria investigated were: winter hardiness, beginning of flowering, growth height, yield of the dry herb, content of essential oil, composition of the essential oil, DNA content of cell nuclei and number of chromosomes. The most strongly varying traits between the populations were the yield of dry herb, the content of essential oil and the content of volatile phenols with coefficients of variation (CV) between CV 40% and 50%. The largest variation within a population was detected for the yield of dry herb (CV 25–46%) and the content of essential oil (CV 17–48%). The homogeneity of the populations was different. The minimal average coefficient of variation of all traits (CV 19%) was determined in the population of the cultivar ‘Varico II’ and in a population from Lithuania. The ploidy level of T. vulgaris was diploid (2n = 30).

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and Dr. Junghanns GmbH for the financing of the project, Dr. K. Pistrick (Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben) for assistance in taxonomical assignment and all institutes involved for the supply of the thyme populations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Breeding Research on Horticultural and Fruit Crops, Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Quedlinburg, Germany

    Steffi Mewes & Friedrich Pank

  2. Institute for Ecological Chemistry, Plant Analysis and Stored Products, Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Quedlinburg, Germany

    Hans Krüger

  3. Am Reißaus 10, 06507, Bad Suderode, Germany

    Friedrich Pank

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  1. Steffi Mewes
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  2. Hans Krüger
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  3. Friedrich Pank
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Correspondence to Friedrich Pank.

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Mewes, S., Krüger, H. & Pank, F. Physiological, morphological, chemical and genomic diversities of different origins of thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.). Genet Resour Crop Evol 55, 1303–1311 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-008-9329-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-008-9329-7

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