Phenotypic variation and genetic diversity of Calendula officinalis (L.)

R. E. Sestras, L. Mihalte, A.-D. Baciu, A. F. Sestras, D. Pamfil

Abstract: In order to assess the genetic diversity, thirty-four genotypes of Calendula officinalis (L.) were evaluated by means of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique. The number of amplification products generated by each primer varied from 9 (OPAB-18) to 14 (OPAL-20) with an average of 11.2 bands per primer. The pairwise Nei and Li’s coefficients showed relatively high similarity in C. officinalis SLO vs C. officinalis L. D. f (0.83), C. officinalis L. F. b vs C. officinalis 122GE (0.80) and the lowest similarity index was observed in C. officinalis L. D. b vs C. officinalis cv. Gaicha Gril (0.17). Fifteen morphological traits in a three-year field experiment were also evaluated. Genetic similarities (obtained from RAPD data), phenotypic similarities were used to create a cluster diagram, and the results were compared. According to this, genotypes were framed in four distinct clusters, but all studied accessions seem to appear as a monophyletic group (cluster I including groups II and III and group II also including group IV) in both dendrograms. Of all the studied genotypes twenty varieties were grouped in the same RAPD cluster and were pulled together in the same phenotypic clusters, meaning that this genotypes presented a small genetic distance and similar peculiarities. The present results illustrate the potential of phenotypic variables and RAPD markers to distinguish genetic diversity and phenotypic variation and are most needed for management in gene banks.

Keywords: cluster analyses; genetic variation; genotypes; pot marigold

Date published: 2019-03-29