Genetic Diversity and Phylogenetic Relatıonshıps of Turkish Local Popcorn (Zea mays everta) Populations By Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs)

Maize ( Zea mays everta) is preferred as a good dietary in Turkey and it is important to know its genetic diversity to improve the yield. The genetic markers of important traits are evaluated in order to improve the popcorn population. The aim of this study was to evaluate the genetic diversity of landraces popcorn populations by SSR marker. A hundred seventy five accessions of popcorn from thirty five populations grown in Turkey were analyzed using twenty SSR markers. As a result of molecular analysis, 66 alleles were obtained, of which 65 showed polymorphism and the polymorphism rate was 98.5%. The average number of alleles for each SSR locus was 3.3, and this the number of alleles varied from 1 to 5. The average PIC value was calculated to be 0.57 for SSR locus ranging from 0.00 to 0.89. The number and percentage of polymorphic loci of the genotypes were determined to vary between 29/47% and 43.94/71.21 % and the mean values were calculated as 39.114 and 59.265 % respectively. The amount of genetic change in the phylogenetic tree obtained from landraces popcorn populations was determined as 0.05, and the genetic difference between genotypes varied between 14.7 and 97.1%.