↓ Skip to main content

Evolution of almond genetic diversity and farmer practices in Lebanon: impacts of the diffusion of a graft-propagated cultivar in a traditional system based on seed-propagation

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Plant Biology, August 2018
Altmetric Badge

Mentioned by

twitter
1 X user

Citations

dimensions_citation
14 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
26 Mendeley
You are seeing a free-to-access but limited selection of the activity Altmetric has collected about this research output. Click here to find out more.
Title
Evolution of almond genetic diversity and farmer practices in Lebanon: impacts of the diffusion of a graft-propagated cultivar in a traditional system based on seed-propagation
Published in
BMC Plant Biology, August 2018
DOI 10.1186/s12870-018-1372-8
Pubmed ID
Authors

Bariaa Hamadeh, Lamis Chalak, Geo Coppens d’Eeckenbrugge, Laure Benoit, Hélène I. Joly

Abstract

Under cultivation, many outcrossing fruit tree species have switched from sexual reproduction to vegetative propagation. Traditional production systems have persisted, where cultivar propagation is based on a mixed reproductive system. For millenia, almond, Prunus dulcis, has been propagated by seeds. Almond grafting remained of little importance until recently. In Lebanon, both sexual and clonal reproductions are used for almond propagation. We used 15 microsatellite markers to investigate the effect of introducing graft-propagated cultivars and associated practices, on the structure of the genetic diversity among and within the two main Lebanese cultivars. As expected, the sexually propagated cultivar Khachabi exhibited more genotypic and genetic diversity than the vegetatively propagated cultivar Halwani. It also exhibited lower differentiation among populations. The distribution of clones showed that propagation modes were not exclusive: farmers have introduced clonal propagation in the seed-propagated cultivar while they have maintained a diversity of genotypes within populations that were mostly graft-propagated. These practices are also important to avoid mate limitations that hamper fruit production in a self-incompatible species. 'Khachabi' is structured into two gene pools separated by the Lebanese mountains. As to 'Halwani', two different gene pools were introduced. The most ancient one shares the same geographic range as 'Khachabi'; longtime coexistence and sexual reproduction have resulted in admixture with 'Khachabi'. In contrast, the more recent introduction of the second gene pool in the Bekaa region followed an evolution towards more extensive clonal propagation of 'Halwani' limiting hybridizations. Furthermore, some pairs of geographically distant 'Halwani' orchards, exhibited low genetic distances, suggesting that a network of exchanges between farmers was effective on a large scale and/or that farmers brought clonal plant material from a common source. Almond diversification in Lebanon is clearly related to the evolution of propagation practices adapted to self-incompatible cultivars. The comparison between both cultivars demonstrated the genetic effects of the introduction of a new cultivar and the associated grafting propagation practices. Our study provided information to develop a strategy for in situ conservation of cultivars and to limit gene flow from introduced material to ancient orchards.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profile of 1 X user who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 26 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 26 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 6 23%
Student > Ph. D. Student 4 15%
Student > Bachelor 4 15%
Professor > Associate Professor 3 12%
Other 2 8%
Other 1 4%
Unknown 6 23%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 12 46%
Environmental Science 6 23%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 1 4%
Chemistry 1 4%
Unknown 6 23%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 08 August 2018.
All research outputs
#20,529,980
of 23,099,576 outputs
Outputs from BMC Plant Biology
#2,530
of 3,290 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#288,630
of 330,726 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Plant Biology
#43
of 53 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,099,576 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,290 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 3.0. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 330,726 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 53 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.