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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » Vegetable Crops Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #311565
Title: Morphological characterization of a Daucus L. germplasm collection in Tunisia

Author
item MEZGHANI, NIJLA - National Bank Of Genes
item BOUHILA, A - National Bank Of Genes
item ROBBANA, C - National Bank Of Genes
item ROUZ, S - Higher School Of Agriculture Of Mograne
item Spooner, David
item Simon, Philipp
item GHRABI, Z - Tunisian National Institute Of Agronomy
item NEFFATI, M - Institute Of The Arid Regions
item BOUZBIDA, B - Institute Of The Arid Regions
item HANNACHI, C - Higher Institute Of Agronomic Sciences Of Chott-Mariem

Submitted to: Acta Horticulturae
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/23/2015
Publication Date: 3/10/2017
Publication URL: http://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/5695308
Citation: Mezghani, N., Bouhila, A., Robbana, C., Rouz, S., Spooner, D.M., Simon, P.W., Ghrabi, Z., Neffati, M., Bouzbida, B., Hannachi, C. 2017. Morphological characterization of a Daucus L. germplasm collection in Tunisia. Acta Horticulturae. 1153:287-291. doi: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2017.1153.42.

Interpretive Summary: Cultivated carrot is technically referred to by its formal scientific name Daucus carota. There are about 25 additional non-cultivated (wild) species in the genus Daucus. Northern Africa represents a major center of diversity of Daucus, with Tunisia containing at least 12 species and six subspecies. A previous study assessed differences of Daucus species in Tunisia using characters of the outward form of the fruits (morphological characters) but these characters did not effectively show differences among the wild carrot D. carota subsp. carota, cultivated carrot D. carota subsp. sativus, and the morphologically similar wild species D. capillifolius. In this study we additionally used morphological characters of the leaves, stems, and flowers, from 40 germplasm collections of these three species or subspecies from germplasm collections from the National Gene Bank of Tunisia. The results showed significant differences among accessions for almost all characters. The results will assist in future development of identification keys for Daucus species and subspecies in Tunisia.

Technical Abstract: The genus Daucus includes about 25 recognized species worldwide. Northern Africa represents a major center of diversity of Daucus, with Tunisia containing at least 12 species and six subspecies. We assessed morphological diversity from a Daucus L. germplasm collection of 103 accessions at the National Gene Bank of Tunisia. A previous investigation showed the effectiveness of fruit characters to identify several species and subspecies in the collection. However, distinction between wild carrot D. carota subsp. carota, cultivated carrot D. carota subsp. sativus, and the morphologically similar species D. capillifolius was difficult. In order to further describe the Tunisian National Genebank collection and to resolve taxonomic classification between some Daucus species, we measured 40 characters related to leaf, stem, flowering and inflorescence on a field collection of 17 accessions corresponding to the different taxa. Observations and measurements revealed significant differences between accessions for almost all characters. The results will assist in future development of identification keys for Daucus species and subspecies in Tunisia.