Detailed Morphological and Molecular Characterizations of Melon (Cucumis melo L.) Accessions Collected from Northern Cyprus and Turkey

Information on the genetic diversity of local melon (Cucumis melo L.) genotypes is important for breeding and germplasm conservation efforts. This study was to characterize the morphological and molecular features of local melon (Cucumis melo L.) accessions collected from different regions of northern Cyprus and Turkey. We studied 32 melon accessions, comprising 19 accessions collected from different areas in northern Cyprus, 4 hybrid cultivars, and 9 local accessions grown in Turkey. Their molecular characteristics were determined using sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers, and their morphological characteristics were determined according to criteria from the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants and Institute of Plant Genetic Resources. Our morphology data classified the 32 melon accessions into two distinct groups, and our molecular data identified 56 total bands were obtained using 11 SRAP primer combinations, and 11 of them were polymorphic at molecular characterization. The polymorphism rate was 0.69-0.96%.