DETERMINATION OF GENETIC VARIABILITY OF EASTERN AND SOUTHEASTERN ANATOLIA REGION TOBACCOS

Tobacco establishing various ecotypes in different ecological zones is one of the crop plants having high genetic variability. In previous years, tobacco ecotypes were conserved by tobacco farming controlled governmentally. But now tobacco sector is privatized. As a result of privatization, companies in tobacco sector have adopted a few ecotypes based on tobacco farming. This phenomenon has increased the risk of extinction for the present genetic variability and now some cultivars are nearly extinct. In this study, conducted to prevent genetic resource erosion, different tobacco ecotypes were determined by visiting the tobacco fields in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia Region. Some morphological, technique and yield characters of the cultivars were compared by farming them in field via seed. 12 characters of the cultivars were tabulated. Seeds of cultivars, characters of which were determined were delivered to Seed Gene Bank of Turkey. many fields of the region, different to each other both ecologically and geographically. Broad leaf webby butt and less webby butt types as well as small leaf webby butt types could be encountered in the region and they had been farmed in their own populations. These researchers indicated the presence of Yayladağ, Malatya, Adıyaman, İskenderun, Diyarbakır, Siirt, Mardin, Muş, Bitlis and Şemdinli populations. The mentioned populations were different from those of Aegean, Marmara and Black Sea regions in terms of their physical and blend characters. “Tombeki” and “Hasankeyf” tobaccos of Nicotiana rustica were also present in the region. Ketenci (1985) reported that tobacco was farmed by using the unaccredited seeds and tobaccos having different appearance from different origins were farmed in the same field in Malatya and Adıyaman-Çelikhan 676, a certificated breeding cultivar for the region was degenerated over time and the cultivar could satisfy neither producer nor management in that its yield and quality. Virginia tobacco, substituted for eastern tobaccos, was tried to farm in Urfa surrounding not to cause the unemployment of farmers from eastern regions, farming tobacco for many years. Results indicated that it was possible to farm Virginia tobacco in this region, but not possible to reach the same quality of that, farmed in its own ecology. Researcher concluded that appropriate farming applications as trashing and using of high quality seed were key factors to increase quality of our eastern tobaccos. On the other hand, it is possible to use thick veined eastern tobaccos in blends at the rate of 10% by paying more attention the farming applications. Tobacco fields of the region constituting significant rate of Turkish tobacco production in total are generally mountainous terrains with high altitude. Tobaccos of region have generally stronger