Population structure, morphological and genetic diversity within and among melon (Cucumis melo L.) landraces in Iran

ISSR markers were applied to evaluate the genetic diversity and differentiation of 270 individuals of 27 Iranian C. melo landraces of various varietal groups include vars. inodorous, cantalupensis, reticulatus, ameri, dudaim. Genetic diversity among the studied genotypes obtained by GeneAlex analysis (H = 0.08, I = 0.12, Na = 0.77, PPL = 22.6%). Cluster analysis divided Iranian melon landraces into two main cluster. Non-sweet genotype (dudaim group) was well separated from sweet genotypes (inodorous, ameri, reticulatus, cantalupensis). The most similar genotypes were BANI and TONI (0.95) and the most dissimilar ones were GER and TS (0.58). AMOVA result showed that the percentage of genetic variation among and within Iranian melon is 69% and 31%, respectively. All landraces evaluated based on 10 morphological traits which revealed the diversity of melon varietal groups. Bayesian analysis assigned ten landraces to Pop 1, eight landraces to Pop 2 and nine melon landraces to Pop 3. Bayesian and UPGMA cluster analyses demonstrated the almost related results. Our results indicated that ISSR markers technique alongside polyacrylamide gel analysis could be helpful to discriminate varieties of melon.