DNA CONTENT, MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR MARKER ANALYSIS FOR THE EVALUATION OF NEW MANDARIN HYBRIDS

The objective of this work was to characterize the new mandarin hybrids by morphological and molecular analysis. Forty hybrids from two crossing between Afourer mandarin and Nova mandarin were evaluated by morphological traits of leaves, cytological and by microsatellite markers SSR. The morphological characteristics suggested that almost all hybrids showed difference statistically highly significant (P < 0.01) for leaf length, leaf width, and ratio leaf lamina length/width. The results of cytometry analysis exhibited that all the hybrids are diploid. Molecularly, one of the four primers detected polymorphisms and three hybrids were selected. This study provided a microsatellite based approach for parentage assignment in hybrids, and that will be useful for investigation of genetic background and selection of new citrus species and varieties.