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Articles

Genetic diversity and population structure analysis – a prerequisite for constructing a mini core collection of Balkan Capsicum annuum germplasm

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Pages 1010-1023 | Received 30 Apr 2021, Accepted 17 Jun 2021, Published online: 12 Jul 2021
 

Abstract

Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is one of the most important vegetable crops worldwide. The Balkans, including Bulgaria, are considered as the secondary centre of pepper diversity especially for C. annuum, where local forms with diverse phenotypes and qualities have formed due to the specific agro-climatic conditions and breeding traditions. Evaluation of the genetic diversity and structure of a pepper collection is an important tool for further development of new varieties and the maintenance of sustainable agriculture. In this study, a set of 179 C. annuum accessions collected from different locations in the Balkan Peninsula was genotyped with 21 simple sequence repeat (SSR; microsatellite) markers. In total, 146 alleles were amplified among which the majority were with low frequencies (<5%). The mean He, Ho and PIC for the 21 SSR loci in the whole set were 0.531, 0.249 and 0.483, respectively. Model-based structure analysis divided the collection into 3 main clusters (K = 3) that grouped accessions with distinct fruit traits like shape, size, pungency. Further genetic structure analysis at increasing Ks suggested the presence of sub-clustering within the three main clusters. A Balkan C. annuum mini core collection was constructed based on the allelic diversity and the inferred genetic structure. As far as the mini core collection captured substantial part of the allele richness, genetic and phenotypic diversity of the analysed 176 non-redundant accessions, while maintaining good representativeness, we believe it will be of high interest to pepper breeders and germplasm conservation specialists.

Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13102818.2021.1946428 .

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by funding from the Bulgarian National Science Fund project Capsi-Core-Design (grant no. DN06/4, 16.12.2016). The author Velichka Todorova acknowledges the financial support by Horizon 2020 PlantaSYST project (grant agreement No 739582).