Genetic diversity in Populus nigra plantations from west of Iran

In order to adopt strategies for forest conservation and development, it is necessary to estimate the amount and distribution of genetic diversity in existing populations of poplar in Iran. In this study, the genetic diversity between eight stands of Populus nigra established in Kermanshah province was evaluated on the basis of molecular and morphological markers. To amplify microsatellite loci (WPMS09, WPMS16 and WPMS18), DNA extraction from young and fresh leaveswas done. Various conditions of the PCR assay were examined and to evaluate the morphological variation of the morphological characters leaves (consist of 19 traits) were measured. In addition, height growth was measured, to evaluate the growth function of the stands in homogeneous conditions. Genetic diversity in term of polymorphic loci was 0%, because three investigated microsatellite loci were monomorphic. The total number of alleles for 3 microsatellite loci was 6 (na = 2, ne = 2, heo = 1, hee = 0.51). Genetic identity based on Nei was 100%, so genetic distance was 0%. The whole sampled trees represented the same thus the genotype. No significant differences between the mean values of all morphological characters and height growth were revealed. Observed genetic similarity gave indication that same ramets had been selected to plant in poplar plantation established in Kermanshah province. These results suggest the need for an initial evaluation of the genetic diversity in selected ramets for planting in plantation to avoid repetition.