Electronic Journal of Biology

Genetic Diversity and Classification of Wild Arum (Araceae)Species Using Morphological Characters in Iran

Assessment of genetic diversity is primarily useful to classification of plant species. In this study, a multivariate statistical analysis was performed on morphological characters of Arum L. species in Iran. Totally, 29 qualitative and quantitative morphological characters of species were evaluated. Cluster analyses by ward method classified the genotypes based on morphological traits in three groups. Cluster 1 had 1 genotype. Cluster 2 had 2 genotypes and cluster 3 had 2 groups. Dendrogram of Genetic Relationships among Arum species which was constructed by the UPGMA method demonstrated that 4 main groups existed in the collection at the highest level of hierarchy (0.34). Using the results from morphological studies, differential characteristics were obtained in the principal component analysis. The result of principal component analyses introduced two principal components with eigenvalue more than one which contributed 99.075% of the total variability. Classification of the cluster analysis was confirmed by principal component analysis and good variety of different traits to species based on similarities and differences have separated. In conclusion, morphological traits can identify and classify species of this genus as a systematic application.

Author(s):

Leila Joudi, Iraj Mehregan, Mostafa Assadi, Davoud Farajzadeh

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