دراسة التنوع المظهري لبعض الأصناف العراقية النادرة من نخيل التمر Phoenixdactyliferal L.

Abstract EN

This study was conducted on the some of the rare date palm cultivars growing in Basrah Governorate,in order to identify itsmorphological characteristics.

Morphological characteristics were studied, including (37) vegetative traits and (38) floral characteristics.The results were analyzed using the principle component analysis and cluster analysis to identify variance and similarity betweenstudied cultivars.The results of cluster analysis has shown that there are clear differences between cultivars.The studied cultivars were divided into two main groups in vegetative and floral characteristics, with the lowest distance between the cultivars (Khassab, Ashresi, Khalas, Sukkari, and AsabeAlaros)which was approximately (0.997) close to each other by vegetative characteristics.The lowest distance between the cultivars was between the two cultivars (Ibrahimi and Shukker)and approximately (0.988%), which were closely related to each other by floral characteristics.

The principle component analysis showed that there are a variety of phenotypes that can be used to distinguish between the different cultivars of date palm,the most important are :The length and width of the leaf, the length of the blade leaf,length and width and number of the pinnatebecausethese qualitiesrepresent19.20% of the variationbetweenvarieties .In addition toweightandlength of spathe and widthand weight of theinflorescence and length and weight of strand, number and weight of the flowers , length and width ofof flowerholder it was representing % 30.697of the variance .