Identification of the intraclonal variability of date palm vitroplants from in vitro organogenesis cultivation - Morphological study

The greater rhythm of the degradation of the Morocco palm plantation implies a repopulation with vitroplants. To estimate the behaviour of those vitroplants, a morphological study of clones of date palm, obtained via organogenesis from primordial leaves surrounding the shoot tip of young offshoots, was carried out on 92 vitroplants arising from three cultivars (Boufeggous, Jihel and Bouskri) and two sairs (Sair 16bis and 35). The results of the Principal Components Analysis (PCA) of 34 morphological variables of vegetative and reproductive apparatus and those of the hierarchical classification allowed us to show an intraclonal heterogeneity of these vitroplants within each cultivar and sair. A certain number of characters was selected as being the most discriminating. These characters can be useful in the study of vitroplants genetic conformity with regard to the parents. To cite this article: M. Azeqour et al., C. R. Biologies 325 (2002) 947-956. (C) 2002 Acadgmie des sciences / Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.