Morphological, chemical characters and genetic analysis discrimination of five naturalized populus species inhabiting four governorate territories of egypt

Abstract EN

Populus is a fast growing tree that attract the attention of people.

This genus provides environment protection due to their ability in carbon sequestration, phytoremediation and wildlife inhabitant.

Populus species are widely used a source of wood, veneer, paper and bioenergy.

This survey study aimed to identify the current status of Populus species inhabiting four different governorates of the Egyptian territories.

In this survey, four different locations were surveyed, i.

e.

Cairo, Giza, Qaliobia and Gharbia governorates.

According to the site survey, five species of Populus were found.

Research findings indicate that the length and diameter of the trees varied according to various species in various localities.

Selected trees of various species were subjected to different morphological, chemical parameters and genetic assessments.

P.

deltoides from Giza in addition to P.

deltoides and P.

nigra from Cairo gave somewhat close relation in their vegetative parameters.

Furthermore, both P.

nigra and P.

alba from Gharbia location gave high similarity due to overall vegetative parameters and also both P.

euramericana female from the Gharbia and P.

nigra from Qaliobia.

Genetic diversity was analyzed using molecular markers.

Three different Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) primers were used for the reaction (17899A, 17899B and HB13).

ISSR primers markers yielded 67.5% polymorphic loci among the surveyed species and cluster analysis enabled separation of these populations on the basis of their genetic distances.

P.

euramericana female and male from Giza showed close relation at morphological level.

From this study it can be concluded that: firstly; leaf parameters i.

e.

leaf area width and length were suitable for identifying the differences among species, and secondly; genetic analysis using molecular markers was enough to discriminate between species.

Our results finally suggest that Populus species possess genetic variation and can adapt to new environmental conditions, which in its self-valuable information would potentially lead to promising applications.