MICROSATELLITE DIVERSITY AMONG TUNISIAN DATE PALM (PHOENIX DACTYLIFERA L.) SUBPOPULATIONS

Phoenix dactylifera L. is native to the southern of Tunisia where it is the most important crop. The aim of this study is to assess the diversity in Tunisian date palm cultivars using molecular markers. The use of reliable and stable vegetative features on 26 cultivars showed clusters characterized also by fruit traits such as consistency and maturity period. Microsatellites analysis supports this statement and it was carried out by using markers with high polymorphism. Analysis of molecular variance revealed significant genetic variation among fruit subpopulations (p < 0.05). Semi soft fruit subpopulation has significant differentiation with soft and semi dry fruit subpopulations. These results suggest that continental Tunisian date palm cultivars are not a unique population which is in opposition with a unique one ancestral date-palm population and this result is the first to be published in P. dactylifera.