Genetic Diversity of Old and Local Apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) Cultivars from the Collection of VIR according to AFLP Analysis

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The genetic diversity of 123 apple accessions from the collection of the research and production base Pushkin and Pavlovsk Laboratories of VIR, including landraces, Soviet cultivars, and commercial Russian and foreign cultivars, was for the first time estimated using the AFLP technique. A total of 355 fragments were obtained, 319 of which were polymorphic (89.86%), and each of the accessions had a unique set of AFLP fragments. The level of diversity of modern commercial cultivars was lower (74.11%, Н_е = 0.202, I = 0.302) as compared with landraces (89.20%, Н_е = 0.238, I = 0.366). A wide range of genetic differences between the studied accessions (0.99–0.63) was demonstrated. The statistical analysis of the data obtained made it possible to divide the studied samples into two groups. The first group included most of the analyzed landraces; with no clear differentiation of these landraces by origin. The second group included modern commercial Russian and foreign apple cultivars, Soviet cultivars, and some landraces.