engleski

Correspondence between morphological and molecular data among Ocimum basilicum L. accessions

Basil (O. basilicum L.) is one of the most popular aromatic and medicinal plants grown in the world. High levels of both morphological and chemical variability exist within the species. Long-term traditional uses and wide distribution throughout the world, as well as traditional selection and breeding efforts, have contributed to that variability within the species. Morphological descriptors and AFLP markers were utilized to define the extent of variation existing in the species analyzing 24 accessions from the Collection of medicinal and aromatic plants of the Department of Seed Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Croatia. Phenotypic dissimilarities between pairs of accessions were calculated and the UPGMA dendrogram was constructed. A number of clearly defined clusters have been detected giving a good representation of traditional taxonomic relationships. Genetic relationships were determined by Neighbour-Joining cluster analysis based on Dice's distance matrix between accessions. In general, morphologically similar accessions grouped together and a high congruence between trees was observed. Both AFLP markers and morphological descriptors can contribute in resolving existing problems concerning intraspecific classification in O. basilicum. In addition, morphological descriptors provide an inexpensive and reliable method for routine screening of accessions in order to monitor and manage basil germplasm collections.

AFLP; morphological descriptors; O. basilicum; UPGMA

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