Phenotypic and ISSR-Based Molecular Diversity and Preliminary In Vitro Establishment of Wild Leek (Allium ampeloprasum L.) Germplasm

Abstract

Wild leek (Allium ampeloprasum L.) is an undercharacterized wild edible species and a potentially valuable resource for conservation and horticultural improvement. This study evaluated 24 site-derived accessions from different localities in Hatay Province, Türkiye, using field-observed morpho-physiological traits, inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers, and preliminary in vitro establishment. Ten traits were measured in three spatially separated plants per accession (n = 72), while one phenotyped representative per accession was analyzed molecularly. Three contrasting accessions, G9, G12, and G18, were also tested for establishment from intact basal bulblets and basal-plate-bearing bulb quarters. All field-observed traits differed significantly among accession-site samples (p < 0.001), and the first three principal components explained 71.72% of total variation, revealing contrasting leaf and biomass, root and leaf-greenness, and bulb-size profiles. Eleven ISSR primers generated 85 scorable loci, including 64 polymorphic loci, with 75.29% polymorphism and a mean polymorphic information content of 0.249. Jaccard similarities ranged from 0.227 to 0.824, and clustering and principal coordinate analyses indicated broad, continuous molecular variation. In vitro, 103 of 172 explants produced healthy primary shoots, with 61.4% establishment in basal bulblets and 57.7% in bulb quarters. These findings provide a baseline for conservation, controlled evaluation, and future propagation studies.