The Applicability of Wheat SSR Markers to Analyzing the Molecular Diversity and Distribution of Orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) Species from Eastern Anatolian Habitats

Turkey is one of the world's nations with the greatest flora diversity. Moreover, it possesses a high level of plant genetic diversity. Garden Grass (Dactylis glomerata L.) is one of the most important fodder species used during cool seasons since it is a hardy and perennial plant. The identification of Orchardgrass cultivars is essential for maximizing cultivar utilization, and safeguarding breeders' intellectual property. Dactylis L. is an allogamous, variable, monospecific genus with multiple subspecies distinguished by morphology, chromosomal count, and distribution. This genus has a single species, Dactylis glomerata, which is comprised of multiple subspecies whose traits have not been exhaustively characterized. Using DNA assays that evaluated the transferability of nine SSR primers designed for wheat loci, the genetic diversity of 44 orchardgrass genotypes from eight naturally distributed locales in the Eastern Anatolia Area of Turkey was calculated. On average, 6.78 alleles were discovered for each of the nine SSR primers, for a total of 61 alleles. A total of 54 polymorphic alleles were identified, with an average of six per primer. Polymorphism information content (PIC) values ranged from 0.320 to 0.626%. The average polymorphism rate of 88.89% suggests a high amount of genetic diversity among all studied genotypes. The average expected heterozygosity (He) ranged between 0.178 to 0.882. The genetic separation ranged from 0.01 to 0.66. In conclusion, our findings indicate that the Dactylis glomerata genotypes gathered in Eastern Anatolia are a rich source of genetic variability, supplying a vast array of genetic material for orchardgrass breeding efforts.