Karyotypic Study on Species of Section Heliobrychis of Onobrychis in Iran

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Abstract

Nine species of sect. Heliobrychis of sainfoin were collected from natural habitats across Iran. Number and size of chromosomes as well as karyotypic formula of the populations were assessed using root tip meristemes. The basic chromosome number varied between x=7 and x=8 and their chromosomal types was metacentric and sub-metacentric. The highest genoms length was assessed for O. scrobiculata (24.26µm) and the lowest for
O. lunata (14.76µm). O. heliocarpa and O. lunata were classified as the symmetric class of a and the others as B O. heliocarpa with 16m formula had the most total form percentage (44.856) and the lowest intra chromosal asymmetrical, and O. oxyptera with 2m+ 14sm had the lowest TF% (32.552) and the most asymmetrical karyotype. Using principal components analysis, the first three components justified 96% of the total variance. By cutting dendrogram, resulted from cluster analysis (Ward) based on the karyptipic parameters, species were classified into two classes. The highest distance value was obtained between O. oxyptera and O. heliocarpa and the lowest between O. buhseana and O. atropatana

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