ISOLATION OF DIFFERENT GENOTYPES IN ‘BAÇIFTLIK BEYAZI’ POTATO LANDRACE USING SSR MARKERS

Abstract

Potato is an important crop in Turkey. Along with modern cultivars, there are some potato landrace cultivars grown mainly for their superior taste. ‘Baçiftlik Beyazı’ is such a landrace cultivar grown in the Mid-Black Sea region of Turkey and used as baked potato. Since this cultivar is not registered, certified seed is not available. Therefore, tuber production suffers from serious yield and quality losses mainly due to viral diseases. The aim of the present study was to determine a main genotype and different genotypes within the cultivar using 16 SSR markers. SSR analyses were conducted over 191 ‘Baçiftlik Beyazi’ plants. Nine of the 16 SSR markers were polymorphic. The data showed that landrace cultivar ‘Baçiftlik Beyazi’ consisted of 23 different genotypes. The same marker profile was present in 150 of the 191 plants. SSR analyses conducted on some modern and landrace cultivars grown in the region showed that the different genotypes were not the remnants of the previous years’ potato crop. This variation could be directly used in potato breeding. SSR marker data also indicated that three local cultivars with different names were actually the same.