The identification of walnut cultivars from Nikita Botanical Gardens by SSR-markers

Walnut (Juglans regia L.) is a crop that has high potential for development in the South of Russia. In this study the identification of 15 walnut cultivars from Nikita Botanical Gardens (Yalta) was done by using seven SSR-markers developed for J. nigra. Cultivar 'Chandler' was taken as a standard. The allelic polymorphism data allow to evaluate the genetic diversity of walnut on the territory of the peninsula. The number of alleles for each locus ranged from 6 to 14. All 69 alleles were obtained, in average 10 alleles per locus. The results of done investigations allow to determine the genetic similarity for studied cultivars and the standard. A dendrogram made during the classification of experimental data divides the analysed cultivars into 2 large clusters. This shows the heterogeneity of walnut population in the Crimea.