Characterization of some watermelon genotypes by SSR and SRAP markers and evaluation for fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. niveum) with molecular and classical techniques

In this study, the genetic diversity of 93 genotypes selected from the watermelon genetic resource collection of Horticulture Department in Çukurova University was evaluated by SSR and SRAP markers. Fourteen SSR primers and 31 SRAP primer combinations were used in the experiment. The highest polymorphism with 100 % was obtained from SSR markers, followed by SRAP markers with 97.3 %. According to cluster analysis performed using molecular characterization data set, it was determined that watermelon genotypes collected from the different regions of Turkey of which belong to Citrullus lanatus var. lanatus subspecies were genetically close and grouped together in the same cluster. This result was supported by principle coordinate analyses as well.The mean disease incidence obtained by classical method to evaluate the resistance to fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. niveum) was 25.9 % for race 0, 39.4 % for race 1 and 67.0 % for race 2. In the molecular analyses for determining resistance to race 1 with the RAPD primer OPP01, 700 bp band was recorded only in Kar 26 and PI 482293.