Genetic diversity of pinus halepensis and juniperus phoenicea trees grown at mediterranean forests in East of Libya

Abstract EN

The relationship between genetic diversity and eco-geographical parameters in wild trees, suggests that it may be a source of useful genes related to adaptation and stress responses.

The present work was designed to survey three locations of different altitude in El-Jabel El-Akhdar (Green Mountain) area, Libya, with the aim at acquiring information on the genetic diversity of Pinus halepensis Mill and Juniperus Phoenicea L.

in that region.

Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was used to compare genetic diversity between trees under this study.

Results of P.halepensis gave 24 polymorphic bands from 95 amplified bands varied in molecular weight and intensity.

On the other hand, results of J.

phoenicea showed that among the four primers tested, 19 polymorphic bands from 84 bands were useful to characterize the samples, ranging from 200 to 1500 bp.

To study the relationship between genetic diversity and wood formation under the influence of environmental differences, tracheid diameters analysis was conducted on both earlywood and latewood for the tested wood species at different altitudes.

The results of P.

halepensis indicated that there are significant differences among the three tested altitudes.

For J.

phonicea, the results revealed a significant difference among the recorded tracheid diameters in the earlywood area at different altitudes.

Dendrograms were constructed using UPGMA algorithm based on the similarity index values for each species.

They indicated that some trees from different altitude were nearly identical which confirmed by the results of tracheid diameters analysis.