A SURVEY ON PRUNUS SPECIES FROM SUBGENUS CERASUS NATURALLY GROWING IN IRAN

A rich gene pool is prerequisite in fruit breeding programs for obtaining culti-vars with appropriate traits such as high yield, good quality, and resistance to stresses.
Also, developing dwarfing rootstocks is a need for establishing compact commercial orchards.
Besides native or land race cultivars, wild genotypes are valuable gene resources for these purposes.
Iran contains significant plant biodiversity for different fruit species, including those from the genus Prunus, especially the subgenus Cerasus. A study has been started on Iranian wild Cerasus subgenus species in order to evaluate their capacity for introducing into cherry breeding programs.
These Iranian native species include: Prunus avium L., P. cerasus L., P. mahaleb L., P. incana Pall., P. microcarpa Boiss., P. brachypetala Boiss., P. pseudoprostrata Pojark., P. turcomanica Pojark., P. chorassanica Pojark. (Iranian endemic) and P. yazdiana Mozaff. (Iranian endemic). These species differ in many traits and can be used as a diverse gene pool for developing new cultivars or rootstocks.
Morphological characters of these species as well as their native distribution is presented.

XXVIII International Horticultural Congress on Science and Horticulture for People (IHC2010): III International Symposium on Plant Genetic Resources

Z. Zamani, A. Shahi-Gharahlar, R. Fatahi , A. Khadivi-Khub

cherry, biodiversity, breeding, germplasm, rootstock

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2011.918.94