FIELD PERFORMANCE AND MOLECULAR DIVERSITY OF SEVENTEEN QUINOA GENOTYPES IN EGYPT

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out in Ismailia Agricultural Research Station, Agricultural Research Center, Egypt during, 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 winter seasons to assess field performance and molecular diversity among 17 quinoa genotypes: six cultivars (Giza-1, Giza-2, Sajama, Santa-Maria, Misr-1 and Regalona-Baer) and 11 accessions (Q12, Q21, Q22, Q26, Q27, Q29, Q31, QS14, QS16, QS17-1, QS18) were used. The seventeen quinoa genotypes were arranged in a randomized complete blocks design (RCBD) with three replicates. The results clearly indicated that the earliest mature and shortest duration genotypes were Giza-1, QS17-1 and QS18, which stayed only 119 days in the field, whereas QS14 and QS16 accessions, stayed up to 147 days from planting date till harvest as a moderate maturity accessions in their growth duration. The rest of the genotypes stayed between 120 and 140 days from planting to harvest as a short to moderate duration. The highest values of plant height and the number of branches per plant were recorded for QS16 accession, whereas the lowest values were recorded for QS17-1 accession in both seasons. The heaviest 1000-grains weights were recorded for QS18, QS17-1 accessions and Giza-2 cultivar. Meanwhile the lightest 1000-grain weight were recorded for QS16 and QS14 accessions, in both seasons, regarding grain yield per plant and per ha, Misr-1 cultivar recorded the highest values, while QS17-1 recorded the lowest values in both seasons. The study concluded that Misr-1 cultivar gave a high yield potential under sandy soil conditions, while Q27, Q21, Q26, Q18 and Q22 are promising accessions for developing new varieties. Molecular diversity was measured using inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) and random amplified polymorphism DNA (RAPD). The results revealed that the polymorphism level differs from one ISSR primer to another, which reflects the primers ability to detect diversity among quinoa genotypes. On the other hand,the data revealed the ability of RAPD to discriminate among the seventeen quinoa genotypes. Combined data across ISSR and RAPD systems explored similarity indices among the seventeen quinoa genotypes. The highest value was 94% among genotypes Q27, Q29, Q12 and Q29 and genotypes Q18 and QS16. While, the lowest values were recorded among genotypes Q26 and QS17-1 followed by genotypes Giza-2 and Misr-1 and also genotypes Giza-2 and Q29. The combined dendrogram had two main clusters; cluster number 1 had genotype Giza-2 in the first sub-cluster, while genotypes QS18 and QS17-1 were in the second sub-cluster. Cluster number 2 was divided into two main sub-clusters. Sub-cluster number one had genotypes Q12 and Q29 in the one group. Furthermore, genotype Sajama was found in the second group, while genotype Q26 was in the third group alone. In addition, genotype Q22 is located in group 3 alone in the sub-cluster two.