MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION OF HYBRID INDIVIDUALS OBTAINED BY INTERSPECIES HYBRIDIZATION (Prunus armeniaca × Prunus salicina)

Abstract

The production of Apricot increases annually worldwide. The biggest reason for this increase is the development of new varieties suitable for the market’s demands as a result of apricot breeding studies besides the apricot fruit having different usage areas. Although the chance of success is very low, interspecies hybridization technique is one of the breeding methods used to create variation in apricot.  In this study, the genetic variation of 18 hybrid individuals obtained as a result of the inter-species breeding study in apricot (Prunus armeniaca) and plum (Prunus salicina) species and their parents have been defined by SRAP marker technique and morphologic data. 101 scored bands were obtained from 15 different marker combinations used in the study. 79 of them were polymorphic and the average polymorphism value was determined as 75.97%. The similarity index in the dendrogram varied between 0.64 and 0.92. In terms of morphological parameters, no differences could be determined according to the parents of the hybrid individuals due to their young age. The results of this study may lead to new studies in the future of the use of new candidates’ varieties and rootstock combined with new studies that include determining the fruit characteristics of these genotypes.