MICROSATELLITE CHARACTERISATION OF APRICOT (PRUNUS ARMENIACA) CULTIVARS GROWN IN CENTRAL EUROPE

The genetic diversity of 62 apricot cultivars originating from different regions in Central Europe was studied with 10 polymorphic microsatellite markers developed in apricot. Altogether, 84 alleles were identified in the set of accessions with an average of 8.4 alleles per locus. Out of these, 24 alleles occurred only once in the investigated samples. The observed heterozygosity for individual loci ranged from 0.9048 to 0.3281 with an average of 0.6077. A UPGMA dendrogram based on Nei’s genetic distance grouped the accessions according to their pedigree information. Some cultivars clustering together revealed a few synonyms. The results obtained confirm earlier grouping achieved after examination of morphological characteristics and RAPD analyses.