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There is little information about the genetic resources of Persian walnut (Juglans regia L.), an important edible and one of the most important plants in pomology and economy in Iran. Germplasm identification and conservation are important and fundamental issues in breeding programs. Six regions in BoyerAhmad and Dena Counties were chosen, and 82 walnut genotypes were selected randomly. Annual growth period was short in Setangun and Ganjegun Regions (190-200 days), but in other investigated regions was long and more than 230 days. Maximum fruit and kernel weights were 63.44 and 8.35 g, respectively. The number of observed alleles ranged from seven (ISSR7A) to 14 (ISSR3A) for primers, and the Number of effective alleles (Ne) in the primers used was between 1.19 to 1.45. The highest Ne alleles belonged to the ISSR1A primer (1.445). Walnut genotypes showed the highest genetic diversity based on the information derived from ISSR1A and ISSR2A with PIC index of 0.44 and 0.41, respectively. The Nei's gene diversity ranged from 0.13 to 0.24, and the Shannon's index was from 0.23 to 0.44. In general, increase in the altitude and decrease in the temperature delayed phenological characteristics.Suitable genetic diversity was found among the genotypes, based on the morphological and phenological characteristics and the ISSR markers. Overall, the results are useful in walnut breeding and conservation programs, and by choosing late leafing and flowering genotypes from Setangun and Ganjegun Regions, it would be possible to reduce the risks of late spring frost.

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Strawberry (Fragaria spp.) is broadly planted for its fruit, fragrance, color, taste, and sweetness. Some people are concerned about transgenic plants and their products. Furthermore, genetic diversity is one of the basics of plant breeding programs. Polyploidy induction is one of the solutions to create genetic diversity and to reduce the concerns about transgenic plants. This experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design to induce polyploidy in strawberry (Fragaria spp. cv. Kurdistan) using different concentrations of colchicine. We aimed to examine the possibility of polyploidy induction, to determine the best concentration, and to evaluate strawberry responses to polyploidy. The tetraploidy percentage in the plants treated by 0.7% colchicine was more ‎than 80%. Tetraploid plants had a greater fruit ‎length and diameter, fresh fruit weight, and larger fruit ‎volume than the controls. Such plants had ‎a lower stomata number with a larger size and a larger chloroplast number ‎ than the diploids. ‎Ultimately, considering the flow cytometry results, and the number of modified plants, the best concentration was 0.7% colchicine treatment, which could be used as a suitable concentration for ploidy induction in strawberries.