The Genetic Structure and Marker- Morphological Trait Associations in Forage Kochia Population Grown in Central Anatolia

Abstract

Abstract Forage kochia, a naturally growing and semi-shrub in Türkiye's flora, tolerates adverse soil and climatic conditions. In the research, the morphological and yield values ​​of the forage kochia populations collected from 5 different locations in Konya were examined during 2018–2019. According to morphological and yield values, we determined 80 plants, 76 plants with excellent yield potential, and four outgroup plants for molecular studies. A total of 250 polymorphic fragments were obtained from these 80 plants. In our study, the average PIC value was 0.322, and the mean MI value was 8.99. Genetic diversity parameters of the populations were obtained using the GenAlEx program, and it was found that the mean He was 0.209, and the percentage of polymorphic loci was 81.20%. According to the results of AMOVA, among-population variation was 9%, while within-population variation was 91%. The dendrogram obtained as a result of the study determined that the genetic distance between plants varied between 0.63 and 0.90. According to the similarity index used in the study, it was stated that there was a high degree of similarity (90%) between 3212 and 5419 coded plants. Furthermore, it was noted that the markers related with plant height were associated with canopy diameter, number of main branches, and leaf color. The results show us that these populations are a treasured gene resource for plant breeding.