Application of DNA fingerprinting for the classification of selected almond [Prunus dulcis (Miller) D.A. Webb] cultivars

Almond cultivars developed in Australia are thought to have descended from 2 breeding lines, 1 from hard-shelled Spanish/Jordan types, and the other from paper-shell Californian types. However, the precise derivation of many individual Australian cultivars is uncertain. Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was used to estimate the genetic similarities between 50 accessions of almond cultivars derived from Australia, California, Europe and the Middle East, and individual accessions of Prunus orientalis (Miller) D. A. Webb and Prunus webbii (Spach) Vieh. Amplification products were analysed using the simple matching coefficient and the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic averages to cluster individuals into a dendrogram. Cultivars known to have originated in Europe or the Middle East clustered in a different group from those known to have originated in California confirming the 2 suspected breeding lines. The origin of some common Australian commercial cultivars was inferred by their placement on the dendrogram, and the possible parentage of some Australian selections is discussed.