Morphological and pomological diversity of wild Prunus microcarpa Boiss. germplasm

BACKGROUND: Prunus microcarpa Boiss. is usually found in dry calcareous and rocky mountain slopes and is well adapted to severe winter and dry-hot summer conditions. Morphological and pomological diversity among 81 accessions of P. microcarpa species selected from natural habitats was assessed. RESULTS: The accessions investigated were significantly different from each other in terms of the traits recorded. Tree growth habit was highly variable, including weeping, spreading, open, semi-erect, and erect. Most of the accessions had very small leaves, a probable adaptation to the xerophytic conditions. Ripening date ranged from mid-June to early August. Fruit weight as the first character considering in domestication process ranged from 0.21 to 0.44 g. Principal component analysis (PCA) could describe the evaluated traits as the 11 main components that were able to justify 76.29% of total variance. Also, the accessions were clustered into two major clusters by the Ward dendrogram. CONCLUSIONS: Significant diversity was revealed, regarding the morphological traits in the evaluated P. microcarpa germplasm that reflected the necessity for the conservation of this germplasm, and it is expected that the results gained in this study will assist current Cerasus breeding efforts and will maintain the genetic integrity of P. microcarpa. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12870-022-03572-2.