GENETIC ANALYSIS OF LOCAL PUMPKIN POPULATIONS

Abstract

Pumpkin is a tropical vegetable type in the Cucurbitaceae family. Selected types of summer squashes (Cucurbita pepo) are generally used in Turkey. This study was conducted to investigate the level of variation in different pumpkin genotypes, to determine genetic relationships and to determine linkage disequilibrium. In the study, 18 different inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) primers selected from a larger set of this primers were used for the genetic analysis of 140 different pumpkin genotypes obtained from Develi, Yeşilhisar and Tomarza districts of Kayseri province, where produces more than 30% of the Turkish pumpkin seed production. For 188 markers obtained with the 18 ISSR primers, the total polymorphism rate was determined as 98%. Based on the UPGMA analyses, it was determined that the similarity level of 140 genotypes had an average of 0.72 and the similarity index ranged between 0.47-0.97 and basically formed 2 main groups. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that 68% of the total variation was within the population and 32% was between the populations. In linkage disequilibrium analyses, the number of markers associating with different markers was found to be variable. The results revealed that although most of the genetic variation resided within the population, a significant proportion of genetic variation presents among the population. This information may be valuable for pumpkin breeding programs.