ASSESSMENT OF VARIETAL DISTINCTNESS OF MONGOLIAN ALFALFA VARIETY ‘BURGALTAI’: SIMPLE-SEQUENCE REPEAT MARKERS AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Abstract

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Fabaceae and the world's most widely cultivated nutritious forage. The ‘Burgaltai’ variety of alfalfa was created by selecting and hybridizing Medicago sativa L. and Medicago falcata L. in Mongolia's forest-steppe. Ensuring the identity of this variety is imperative since this variety is cold-tolerant and well-adapted in Mongolia. In this study, we observed morphological characteristics and analyzed varietal genetic similarity using simple-sequence repeat (SSR) markers to distinguish the ‘Burgaltai’ variety from other varieties. ‘Burgaltai’ variety had deep purple and yellow variegated flowers, which was a reliable and “descriptor” morphological characteristic. In this study, we applied eleven simple-sequence repeat (SSR) markers; 10 markers (90.9%) gave amplified products and exhibited polymorphism. Three SSRs (MTIC64, MTIC451, and MTIC471) were variety-specific and applicable to identify the ‘Burgaltai’ variety from others. PIC values of markers ranged from 0.32 to 0.86, with an average of 0.52, proving that these markers were appropriate for varietal identification and can be used in further genetic diversity analysis. Moreover, the study results showed that two Turkish varieties belonged to one cluster in the dendrogram, whereas the ‘Burgaltai’ variety was closer to two Russian varieties in another cluster for the genetic profile. This paper first reports on the molecular characterization of the Mongolian alfalfa plant by using SSR markers.