Genetic and Agronomic Diversity of Basma Tobacco (Nicotiana Tabacum L.) Landrace in Turkey

Abstract

Description of the subject. In Turkey Basma tobaccos have been produced as landraces. However, little is known about the genetic and agronomic diversity of the Basma tobacco landrace. Objectives. The aim of the present study was to determine the genetic variation level in Basma type tobaccos used in Tokat-Erbaa region of Turkey, to evaluate some lines under field conditions for agronomic variations and to find out lines with superior yield and quality characters. Method. Thirteen simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers were used to determine the genetic diversity among 40 single plants collected from Basma tobacco production areas along with the cultivar Xanthi-2A. Twenty-seven different lines identified by SSR markers and cultivar Xanthi-2A were evaluated under field conditions in three Basma tobacco production areas. Results. All SSR markers were polymorphic and PIC values of the markers ranged from 0.136 to 0.679 with a total of 43 alleles. There were high levels of variation in agronomic characters investigated. The results of the field evaluations showed that most lines had good agronomic characters and some of them were considerably better in quality than Xanthi-2A. In principal component analysis performed with agronomic characters, the first three components explained 85.4% of the total variation. Conclusions. We determined that the lines 5, 7, 16, 19, 21 and 26 were promising cultivar candidates with good performance. These lines could be further examined for the aim of registration or could be used for development of superior cultivars. © 2021, FAC UNIV SCIENCES AGRONOMIQUES GEMBLOUX. All rights reserved.