THE FIRST THREE CLONES SELECTED FROM THE TRADITIONAL ARTICHOKE ‘ROMANESCO’ POPULATIONS AND PROPOSED FOR THE RELEASE OF NEW VARIETIES

The in vitro propagation of the ‘Romanesco’ globe artichoke clone C3 and its rapid diffusion in the productive system have led to a significant erosion of local genetic resources and a loss of diversity.
With the aim of recovering and characterising landrace diversity for future breeding activities and/or germplasm conservation, 19 clones derived from plants cultivated in traditional areas of the Latium region were collected, in vitro propagated and analysed using a combination of morphological traits (UPOV descriptors) and DNA markers (AFLP and ISSR). Three clones characterized by positive values for traits of agronomical interest have been selected within the traditional ‘Romanesco’ landrace typologies such as ‘Campagnano’, C3, and ‘Castellamare’. Request for the release of these clones has been submitted to the Italian National Variety Register.
The three clones, named Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raffaello, are characterized by differences referred to morphological traits such as date of maturity, head size, production, receptacle thickness, and molecular patterns.

VII International Symposium on Artichoke, Cardoon and Their Wild Relatives

G. Ancora, P. Crinò, R. Tavazza, M.A. Pagnotta, O. Temperini, R. Campanelli, F. Saccardo

Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus, morphological traits, genetic diversity, natural populations, DNA markers

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2012.942.14