Genetic Relationships among Dihaploid Altinbas Melon (Cucumis melo L. var. inodorus) Lines Revealed by SSR Markers

Melon is an economically important vegetable crop in Turkey. The production amount is approximately 1.7 million tonnes and winter type melons (Cucumis melo L. var. inodorus)    are widely grown in many regions using local genotypes. Haploidization technique is known to be a useful tool in plant breeding by reducing time for the production of 100% homozygous lines. We examined the genetic relationships of 96 dihaploid Altinbas melon genotypes that we developed by irradiated pollen technique using SSR (Simple Sequence Repeat) markers. Twenty polymorphic primers were used to generate the SSR markers. Based on SSR data, the genetic similarity coefficients were calculated and dendrograms were constructed using UPGMA (unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic average). According to cluster analysis dihaploid lines were separated into different groups. Our results provide us different heterotic groups for developing new breeding programmes in Altinbas melon dihaploid lines