Die Bodenkultur - Journal for Land Management, Food and Environment

S. Grljusic, S. Bolaric, S. Popovic, T. Cupic, M. Tucak and V. Kozumplik:

Assessment of morphological and RAPD variation among and within red clover cultivars after natural selection

Summary

The study was conducted to analyse the differences within and among three red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) cultivars and their selections, which survived for three years in an upland region by using morphological trait data and RAPD markers, and to examine the genetic variability after natural selection. Cultivars and selections were found to differ from each other in four morphological characters. The percentage of polymorphic loci varied from 90.22 to 98.91 %. Most of the genetic variability was attributed to within cultivar and selection variation. Mean values of morphological and molecular distances among the cultivars and their selections were 0.21, and 0.27 respectively. Genetic variations in cultivars after natural selection were associated with genetic structure of the cultivars. Key words: Red clover, morphological traits, RAPD markers, genetic variability, natural selection.