Genetic diversity evaluation of Tetraclinis articulata L. in Algeria

Tetraclinis articulata is an endemic, medicinal and aromatic species of the cupressaceae family with an economic importance. The objective of our study is based on the morpho-metric characterization of a 210 individual sample from seven populations distributed in five regions in western Algeria: Tlemcen (Ain fezza (Yfri forest), Ain Ghraba (Ahfire forest), Beni Snous (Zarifate forest)), Ain Temouchent ( Madagh 2 forest) , Oran (the Virgin forest) , Relizane ( Zemmora forest)  and finely Sidi Bel Abbes  (Tenira forest) using eight morphological traits :Circumference of the tree (CRF),The tree height (TH),The tree crown (TCR), The length of primary branch (LgB1),The length of secondary branch (Lg B2),The length of the needles(LgNd) which were statistically studied using the R software. Phenotypic diversity was determined by the Shannon-Weaver diversity index (H') at different levels. The estimated H' showed a large phenotypic variability for different traits with a mean of 0.90. The results of the multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and hierarchical clustering (HCA) showed a clear distinction between the populations. The extraction of essential oils was done for all populations; the yield of essential oils from the trees of the Beni Snouss population was higher than the other populations which is very important for future economic perspectives and we all so found that there is a negative correlation between the yield of essential oils and The length of the needles (LgNd) which can be used to identify the subjects with the best performance.