Morphological and molecular characterization of Cuminum cyminum L. cultivated in different locations of Syria

Cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) is a herbal annual plant cultivated in semi-dried areas, Cumin has been used as a traditional medicine since ancient time. This study aimed at the morphological and molecular characterization of Cumin plants cultivated in various locations of Syria. The following indicators were used in the morphological characterization (plant height, number of branches, number of umbels, number of flowers, seeds dimensions, number of seeds, yield and flower color). The dendrogram based on morpho-agronomic traits showed that the plants from Idlib sites (Saraqib, Khan-Sheikhoun) were more similarity in morphological traits, Correlation analysis showed that plant height and the number of seeds had the highest relationship with yield. For molecular characterization the inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) technigue was used, 26 primers were used, resulting in 1241 bands, with an average 47.4% bands per primer, polymorphism bands were 308, whith an average 27.3%. Dendrogram analysis separated the plants into two clusters, Plants cultivated in Aleppo (Al-Sfiera), Al-Hassaka (Aljaudih), Rif-demashek (Bit saber) and Hama (Salamih) sites were the closest genetically, Mantel test between genetic diversity and morphology was not significant. These results indicated multi genetic resources for cumin accessions in Syria.