Genetic Diversity Analysis among Jordanian Durum Wheat Landraces, Improved Cultivars and Wild Types (Triticum dicoccoides) Using RAPD Technique

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique was used to study the genetic relationship between 30 accessions of durum wheat landraces collected in 2001, four improved durum wheat cultivars, 10 accessions of Triticum dicoccoides and six samples from the landrace cultivated by some farmers and locally known as Noorseh, all collected in 2008. Nine primers showing polymorphic bands were used for the construction of the dendrogram and the similarity matrix. A total of 1650 bands were obtained, 257 of which were polymorphic. Similarity values among the studied accessions ranged from 0.450 to 0.000. High similarity values were obtained between wheat landraces collected from Koufranjeh and Srabees and also between two accessions of T. dicoccoides populations with black awns. No similarity (value= 0.000) was detected between Srabees accessions and Mut ah accessions. RAPD analysis confirmed the existence of genetic variation among tested durum wheat varieties and among T. dicoccoides populations. Improved wheat varieties were the most distant compared to the rest of the studied landraces. The cluster analysis clearly differentiated ACSAD 65, Sham1 and Noorseh landraces from the rest of the studied landraces. The samples of Noorseh durum landrace were scattered in different sub-clusters. The data presented here provide a platform to develop a preliminary database for Jordanian durum wheat that will facilitate the conservation and exploitation of these valuable genetic resources