RAPD analysis of genetic relatedness among selected quince (Cydonia oblonga MiIL) accessions from different parts of Turkey

Quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) is a minor fruit crop, which is primarily used for marmalade, jam, sauce and as rootstocks for pears. Different cultivated and local quince genotypes are grown in almost all parts of Turkey for fruit usage. In this study, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technology was used to study the genetic relationships among 13 quince accessions selected from different parts of Turkey. Thirty decamer primers were used and 14 of them did not produce any polymorphism. The remaining 16 primers ranged in their amplification fragments between one (P-402, P-437, OPA 10, OPA 16, OPA 18 and OPA-19) and five (OPA-06 and OPA-07). The size of fragments varied from 100 to 1500 bp. Similarity values among the studied genotypes ranged between 0.483 and 0.925. The resulting dendrogram clustered into two groups (0.69 similarity value) based on evaluation of genetic similarities and differences. The results suggest that RAPD analysis could be used to distinguish and determine genetic variation among quince accessions. Also, the obtained clustering based on RAPD markers agreed to some extent with the geographical origin of the studied set of quince accessions