THE GENETIC VARIATION OF SEVEN NATURAL CRIMEAN JUNIPER (JUNIPERUS EXCELSA BIEB. M.) POPULATIONS AND ITS GROWING ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS IN TURKEY

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the genetic variation in one-year-old seedling characters of seven Crimean juniper populations naturally distributing in the Lakes District of Turkey. For this purpose, totally 70 families (10 per population) were used to estimate the amount of genetic variation and heritability among individuals within and among populations. Genetic variation among individuals within populations was found to be higher than that among populations. It was detected that seedling fresh weight had the highest coefficient of both genetic and phenotypic variations. On the contrary, the lowest coefficients of genetic and phenotypic variations were the shoot height. Individual heritability ranged from 0.08 (shoot height and the longest root length) to 0.13 (seedling fresh weight), whereas family heritability varied from 0.82 (the longest root length) to 0.91 (seedling fresh weight). In conclusion, it can be recommended to select family within the population rather than population in the context of breeding strategies of the species.