Genetic Relationships and Diversity of Common Buckwheat Accessions in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench.) has a long history of cultivation in the large, mountainous regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). Its commercial production is mainly based on the regionally bred variety ‘Darja’, but numerous landraces are also being grown on a smaller scale. As part of the SEEDNet (Southeast European Network on Plant Genetic Resources) project, these landraces have been collected and stored at the Gene bank of the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences in Sarajevo (FAFS). To assess their utilization value, it was first important to investigate if they represent distinct landraces and to identify their genetic relationships with the most commonly grown varieties in the region (‘Darja’, ‘Goluba’ and ‘Čebelica’). Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the genetic relationships and diversity of the common buckwheat accessions maintained at the FAFS Gene bank, as well as the value of these accessions for future breeding programs, using microsatellite markers and seventeen quantitative and fifteen qualitative morphological traits. The FCA (Factorial Correspondence Analysis) and AMOVA (Analysis of Molecular Variance) revealed that several accessions represent completely distinct landraces which clearly differentiated from the most commonly grown cultivars ‘Darja’ and ‘Goluba’. Conducted morphological analyses revealed that several of the analyzed landraces hold similar characteristics to the ones observed in ‘Darja’ and ‘Goluba’, while others possess unique traits potentially useful in breeding programs.