The Possibility of Using Iranian Asparagus (Asparagus persicus) in Breeding Programs

Asparagus officinalis is the most economically important species of asparagus. A. persicus is known as Iranian asparagus among the wild species which can grow under harsh environmental conditions such as high temperature and saline and dry soils. Therefore, it can be a suitable germplasm for interspecific hybridization in asparagus breeding programs. The possibility of using A. persicus in breeding programs and also employing molecular markers to detect hybrid plants developed from hybridization between A. persicus and some other species of asparagus were investigated. Twenty one accessions of asparagus from diploid (2x) to dodecaploid (12x) from six different countries were used. Successful crosses were made for A. officinalis (2x) × A. persicus (2x) by hand pollination. Hybridization rate for A. persicus was 34.1%. AG8 primer could detect specific allele for A. persicus. TC6 primer is a suitable molecular marker to detect interspecific hybrid plants for A. persicus in open pollinated and controlled crosses. ACM101 primer that has been designed for onion could also be used to evaluate genetic polymorphism in different accessions of asparagus.