Genetic diversity of some Iraqi Date palm cultivars using Some Morphological Markers

For the purpose of study of genetic diversity, ten of Iraqi date palm cultivars affiliated to the Ministry of Agriculture were selected. The study encompassed 14 phenotypic indicators such as trunk, leaves and fruit qualities. The results revealed that the mean number of all cultivars alleles was 3.21429, the frequency of the main allele ranged from 0.3 in the trunk and shoot tip shape to 0.8 in the tissue and fruit shield. The rang of genetic diversity was .32 for the lowest value in the fruit shield and .76 for the highest value in the shoot tip shape and the average PIC was 0.48949 while the genetic distance between the two cultivars Ouainat Aube and Meer Haj was the lowest, which amounted to 0.2381. The results of the Euclidean cluster analysis using the UPGMA method showed that the date palm cultivars were divided into two main groups with a Euclidean dimension of 0.19. The cultivar Qurnfili was isolated in the first group and the rest of varieties were included in the second group: Al- Barhee, Al-Balaka, Al-Shwathi, Alsaaei , Khiara , Jwzii , Meer Haj , Enbari , Ouainat Aube.