GENETIC RELATIONSHIP ANALYSIS OF WILD (OLEA CUSPIDATA WALL.) AND CULTIVATED OLIVE (OLEA EUROPAEA L.) GROWING IN AZAD JAMMU AND KASHMIR, PAKISTAN

Wild (O. cuspidata) and cultivated olive (O. europaea) grow in northern regions of Pakistan including Azad Jammu and Kashmir are expected to have considerable inter and intra-species genetic variability due to adaptation to the various environmental conditions. The genetic relationship was investigated in wild and cultivated olive populations growing in Azad Jammu and Kashmir by using four primer combinations during Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) analysis. Genetic relationships were displayed in a dendrogram based on Unweighted Pair Group Method (UPGMA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Four clusters were clearly separating wild and cultivated olive populations from each other indicated that the Olea cuspidata (wild) which is an Afro-Asiatic species found particularly in this region and Olea europaea (cultivated) were divergent. The insightful difference between wild and cultivated populations and the close relationship among Olea europaea accessions had confirmed that the cultivated olive did not develop locally but were introduced from abroad, propagated by grafting on local wild olive. Moreover, analysis of cultivated olive showed that they are probably from same population with common ancestry.