The North-Eastern region (NER) of India falls under the Eastern Himalayan region and it is a bio-diversity hub. Diverse maize landraces with wide adaptability to extreme climatic and soil scenario like heavy rainfall, drought and acidic soil conditions have been grown in NER since time immemorial. However, maize diversity in NER region has drastically reduced due to introduction of high yielding varieties and hybrids. Modern maize breeding programmes are focused on high yield but other unique traits like stay green trait, prolificacy (more than one fertile ear per plant), self-fertilizing ability are also important and the local germplasm of the NER region can contribute with these unique traits. Prior to the selection of any lines in several breeding programmes, assessment of genetic diversity and population structure are basic requirements. Hence, in the present study assessment of genetic diversity and population structure study in 30 maize inbreds developed from different germplasm of NER was undertaken using SSR markers, selected for their broad distribution throughout the genome, in order to assess the extent of allelic diversity among the lines and whether any population structure could be established. In addition to assessing molecular diversity, the study aims to evaluate the potential for yield and other beneficial and unique alleles that have high potential to contribute in the genetic enhancement programme of maize.

Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc) has been neglected in terms of variety selection and development which has resulted in farmers growing a mixture of landraces that are not genetically characterized and are low yielding. With the need to set up a breeding programme in Malawi, it was necessary to thoroughly understand the genetic diversity (GD) present in the available germplasm. The objectives of the study were to assess Bambara genotypes GD using agro-morphological traits and SNP markers, and to identify and select high yielding Bambara genotypes. Field trials were conducted for two seasons at Bunda College. Later, genotypes were genotyped using DartSeqLD SNP markers. All data were analysed using R Package. Significant genetic variations (P < 0.001) were observed for most traits including grain yield, which suggests that genetic variability exists in Bambara groundnuts which can be exploited in breeding programmes aimed at developing high performing varieties. Based on grain yield, the study identified 18 top performing genotypes across the evaluation seasons which will be tested under farmers’ fields’ conditions. DArTseqLD grouped the genotypes into three clusters. It was noted that majority of the genotypes from the same origin clustered together. High genetic distances were observed between genotypes from Southern African and West African regions and this has important implications in parental selection for the genetic improvement of Bambara. Our results provide valuable insights about the extent of genetic variability and how parental lines can be selected for improved genetic gain in Bambara groundnuts.

The study of polymorphism of glutenin makes it possible to identify and isolate desirable genotypes with higher grain quality. In the last few years, only a part of the genetic diversity among the modern and popular wheat germplasm and varieties based on the polymorphism of glutenin subunits are captured. To address this 107 wheat varieties released across different agricultural zones in India, were used to investigate HMW-GS and LMW-GS allele polymorphism, gene diversity and genetic variation in the Glu-1 and Glu-3 loci. Among the different HMW-GS, the highest genetic variation was observed at the Glu-D1 locus with both Glu-D1a and Glu-D1d possessing genetic variation of 0.490, 0.484 respectively. The highest genetic variation at the Glu-A3 locus was observed at the Glu-A3c and GluA3b possessing a genetic variation of 0.463, 0.411 respectively. This was followed by the Glu-B3j having a genetic variation of 0.386 at the Glu-B3 locus. Over 20 years a remarkable increase in the Glu-D1d allele is observed in the newly released varieties in India. Among all the zones, Glu-A1-null is the least frequent allele at the Glu-1 locus, however, it is present as the predominant allele in the NHZ of India. This study elucidates the relationships of these HMW and LMW allelic frequencies and genetic variation with their geographical distribution over the two different periods. This study provides reference data that can be used to assist the breeding, quality evaluation and development of good-quality wheat varieties.

Soil moisture deficit is the major constraint for sesame crop production during its main rainfed and summer cultivation seasons. In summer cultivation, the crop frequently gets exposed to soil moisture deficit at various crop growth stages. Therefore, it is essential to identify the traits along with promising genotypes adapted to soil moisture deficit. A set of 35 sesame genotypes with checks was used to quantify the variation in morpho-physiological, yield, and quality traits under irrigated (WW) and deficit soil moisture stress (WS) conditions in the summer seasons of 2021 and 2022. The analysis of variance revealed the presence of high variability among the genotypes for various measured traits. The mean performance indicated that WS negatively affects the growth, development, yield and quality traits. Moreover, the correlation, path analysis and D2 analysis studies suggested that the traits, viz. leaf area (LA), total dry matter (TDM), canopy temperature (CT), number of branches per plant (NBP) and number of seeds per capsule (NSC) were significantly associated with seed yield under both the conditions. Quality traits like palmitic acid and oleic acid correlated positively with seed yield, particularly under WS. Furthermore, the genotypes with lower canopy temperatures were found to be better seed yielders under WS. In addition, mean performance and cluster analysis suggested that the genotypes: IC- 205776, JSCDT-112, JCSDT-26, IC-205610, and IC-204300, secured higher seed yield along with superior agronomical traits and net photosynthetic rate. These selected genotypes were most promising and could be used in future sesame crop improvement programmes.

Fusarium pseudograminearum is one of the important crown rot agents that reduces the quality and quantity of wheat plants. The pathogen is common in the world and 10–35% yield losses due to disease have been reported. Identifying resistant durum wheat genotypes is the best approach to control the disease due to the limited control options available. Currently, there are only a few genotypes available with partial resistance to Fusarium crown rot globally. In this study, a total of 199 durum wheat genotypes provided by the International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico, and five control genotypes were tested for their resistance reactions to F. pseudograminearum under both growth room and greenhouse conditions. Out of the 199 genotypes tested under growth room conditions; 15, 20, 134 and 30 genotypes exhibited resistant, moderately resistant, moderately susceptible and susceptible reactions, respectively. Under greenhouse conditions; 19, 16, 121 and 43 genotypes were found resistant, moderately resistant, moderately susceptible and susceptible, respectively. Two durum wheat genotypes (# 84 and # 197, CIMMYT genotype numbers 7409071 and 7410562) showed seedling and adult plant resistance to F. pseudograminearum. The newly identified resistant genotypes for crown rot caused by F. pseudograminearum seem promising for breeding programmes, especially these two lines which showed resistance at both seedling and adult plant stages.

Neocinnamomum plants are evergreen shrubs or small trees belonging to the Neocinnamomeae tribe of the Lauraceae family. Their seeds are rich in fatty acids, and their leaves are often used in traditional Chinese medicine. Presently, only a few studies have been performed on Neocinnamomum plants; therefore, the genome-based phylogeny among Neocinnamomum species has not been determined, which limits the germplasm innovation of this genus. In this study, by the Illumina (next-generation sequencing) and third-generation sequencing technologies, the whole genomes of seven Neocinnamomum species samples were sequenced, their nuclear DNA (nrDNA) sequences were assembled and characterized, and their phylogeny was reconstructed. The results revealed four hypervariable regions (i.e. transcribed spacer regions) in the nrDNA sequences, among which the highest degree of variation was observed in the external transcribed spacer (ETS) region localized behind the 26S gene. A total of 27 insertions/deletions and 184 single-nucleotide polymorphisms, both localized mainly in the ETS and internal transcribed spacer regions, were identified. Phylogenetic trees were constructed based on the nrDNA sequences using the maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) methods with Caryodaphnopsis henryi as the outgroup. The ML tree divided the seven Neocinnamomum species into four clades. Clade I consisted of Neocinnamomum caudatum var. macrocarpum and Neocinnamomum caudatum, clade II included Neocinnamomum delavayi and Neocinnamomum mekongense, clade III included Neocinnamomum fargesii and a branch species of N. delavayi and clade IV included Neocinnamomum lecomtei, constituting a monophyletic and basal group. The BI tree shared the same topological structure as the ML tree, and all the support values of the BI tree were one except for that of one Neocinnamomum species (0.98). The results of this study provide new evidence regarding the phylogenetic evolution of the Neocinnamomum plants.

Soybean is a major source of vegetable oil and protein worldwide. Globally, India is among the top five producers where soybean is a major oilseed grown under diverse agro-climatic conditions by small and marginal farmers. The present study aims to identify soybean varieties with higher yield levels, resistance to pestdiseases and adaptability to climatic fluctuations. One hundred and twenty-five (125) indigenous and exotic soybean germplasm accessions and five checks were evaluated and characterized for eight agro-morphological traits at five testing locations and also screened for frog-eye leaf spot (FLS) and yellow mosaic virus (YMV) diseases under hot-spot locations during the rainy season. A wide range of variability was observed among accessions for days to 50% flowering (39–59), plant height (41–111 cm), number of nodes/plant (10–30), pod clusters/plant (14–39), number of pods/plant (40–102), days to maturity (96–115), grain yield/plant (4.89–16.54 g) and 100-seed weight (6.02–13.72 g). Among various traits, 100-seed weight (0.45), number of pods/plant (0.60) and number of pod clusters/plant (0.38) were found to be major yield-contributing traits as they exhibited highly significant correlation with grain yield/plant. Principal components PCI and PCII with eigen value >1 accounted for 42.66 and 27.08% of the total variation, respectively. Accessions G24 (EC 393222) from Taiwan and G40 (IMP-1) from the USA belonging to cluster IV were found promising for multiple yield traits and JS 20–38 from cluster III for earliness as per cluster analysis. GGE biplot average environment coordination (AEC) view revealed that the accessions viz., G11 (EC 333872), G2 (EC 251506) and G47 (TNAU-S-55) were the best performing stable genotypes in terms of grain yield/plant across locations. Twelve accessions had a high level of resistance against both FLS and YMV diseases under natural hot-spot conditions which can be utilized as promising donors in the soybean breeding programme.

Gerbera is an important commercial flower crop in the world. Augmenting the genetic diversity is desirable for further improvement in Gerbera breeding programme. Thirty-seven (37) Gerbera accessions were evaluated and analysed for genetic variability, heritability, correlation and path coefficient analysis using yield and quality traits. Results showed that phenotypic coefficients were higher than genotypic coefficients of variation for all the characters. All the traits, except stalk and flower diameter, had high heritability (>60%) and genetic advance (>20%). Based on cluster analysis, the 37 accessions were grouped into seven clusters. Cluster I consists of the maximum number of genotypes (22), while clusters IV–VII are monogenotypic with unique traits. Cluster analysis (D2) showed wider genetic diversity within and between the clusters. The first four principal components (Eigenvalue >1) contributed 72.3% of the total variation. The number of leaves, number of flowers and flower stalk length contributed the most to genetic divergence. Flower yield showed a significant positive genotypic correlation with the number of leaves and suckers. The path analysis (genotypic) revealed that number of suckers, flower stalk diameter and flower stalk length contribute major positive direct effects on number of flowers. Therefore, the wide genetic variability existing in the germplasm may facilitate improvement in gerbera crops. Superior lines (RCGH-12, -22, -114, -117) with higher yield (>23 flowers/plant) and vase life (>5 days) could be promoted for commercial production under open field conditions. While RCGH 28 has a dwarf flower stalk that can be promoted for pots and decoration purposes.

Genetic diversity and genetic relatedness among 50 genotypes from eight countries, including Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Syria, Lebanon, India, Yemen, and the United States located in two continents of Asia and the America, were assessed using SCoT markers. A total of 213 bands were produced; 100% of them were polymorphic; the average polymorphism information content (PIC) was 0.39. The mean Nei's gene diversity and Shannon's index were 0.33 and 0.49, respectively. Analysis of molecular variance suggested significant genetic differences within pomegranate populations. 99% of variance occurs within the populations, whereas 1% of the variation was recorded among the populations of pomegranate. Cluster analysis using SCoT markers able to group genotypes based on their geographical origins. Based on cluster analysis, the genotypes studied were divided into two main groups. The first group included most Asian genotypes, while American genotypes along with some Asian genotypes were in the second group. In the first group, Iranian genotypes were grouped with genotypes from Afghanistan and India. In the second group, the genotypes belonging to the America were in the same group as most of the genotypes of Turkmenistan. According to the present study, SCoT markers can be used to evaluate genetic diversity, identification and DNA fingerprinting pomegranate genotypes of different origins. This information can be used in breeding programs and the management of pomegranate collections.

Cauliflower is an important vegetable crop grown worldwide. Development and characterization of suitable cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines and male fertile inbreds is instrumental in developing heterotic hybrids. A study was undertaken to estimate heterosis and combining ability in snowball cauliflower lines through line × tester analysis involving five Ogura CMS lines and seven male fertile testers. The assessment of F1s along with their parental lines for different horticultural traits revealed a wide range of heterosis. Ogu-13-01 was the best general combiner for leaf length, leaf width and plant height, Ogu-13-85 for number of leaves/plant, Ogu-101 for days to 50% curd initiation, days to 50% curd maturity and net curd weight and Ogu-119 for harvest index. The lines with better general combining ability (GCA) were involved in majority of the heterotic hybrids. The tester Kt-18 was the best general combiner for leaf width, DB-1305 for number of leaves/plant and DB-187 for leaf length, plant height, gross plant weight and days to 50% curd initiation. However, GCA alone was not sufficient to determine and identify the potential parental lines. Hybrids Ogu-101 × DB-1305 and Ogu-119 × Suprimax Late were the best specific combinations for marketable curd weight, marketable curd yield, net curd weight and net curd yield. The hybrid Ogu-119 × Suprimax Late was the best heterotic combination for marketable curd weight, marketable curd yield, net curd weight and net curd yield, followed by Ogu-101 × DB-1305, Ogu-119 × Sel-26 and Ogu-101 × DB-187. Our findings will be instrumental to identify suitable parental lines and developing heterotic F1 hybrids in cauliflower.

Low level of resistance to major diseases such as ascochyta blight (AB), botrytis grey mould (BGM) and dry root rot (DRR) in the cultivated chickpea genepool necessitates harnessing wild Cicer species. Sixty-eight accessions belonging to eight annual wild Cicer species and seven chickpea cultivars were screened for AB, BGM and DRR under controlled environmental conditions over the years. Intra-accession variability was observed among wild Cicer accessions for each disease. Hence, progenies of single resistant plants were selected for further evaluations and the trait-specific genetic stocks (TGS) were developed for each disease after re-screening following the single seed descent method. For AB, a high level of resistance was identified in four accessions belonging to tertiary genepool species, ICC 17334 (Cicer judaicum), ICC 17302, ICC 17308 and ICC 20177 (C. bijugum). Nine accessions, ICC 17160, ICC 17264, ICC 17270, ICC 20170, ICC 20186, ICC 20225, ICC 20247, ICC 20251 and IG 72941 of primary (C. reticulatum) and one accession, ICC 20190 of secondary (C. echinospermum) genepool species were resistant to BGM whereas, four accessions, ICC 20187 (C. reticulatum) and ICC 20218, ICC 20244 and ICC 20257 (C. echinospermum) were resistant to DRR. Development and utilization of these TGS in chickpea pre-breeding will assist in developing disease-resistant chickpea cultivars with broad genetic base.

Mangrove fan palm is an endemic plant that grows well and has for a long period been related to traditional ceremonies in southern Thailand. It is an endangered plant with a slow growth and is difficult to propagate in mass production. Tissue culture technique can be used to produce a large number of plants within a short time and to preserve in vitro germplasm resulting in the plant not becoming extinct from natural habitats. Thus, the objectives of this research were to study effects of auxins and embryo preparation on somatic embryogenesis. The sterile immature zygotic embryo was cultured on MS medium with different types and concentrations of auxins. The results showed that 1 mg/l dicamba gave the best results in callus induction at 100% and callus diameter at 4.67 mm after 8 weeks of culture. For callus proliferation, callus chopped at 100 times and transferred to 0.1 mg/l dicamba containing oil palm culture medium gave the highest callus diameter at 10.33 mm after 4 weeks of culture and somatic embryos were also produced. Upon transferring somatic embryos to MS medium with 0.2 M sorbitol, a large number of various developmental stages of secondary somatic embryos were induced within 4 weeks. Therefore, the finding of this study could be highlighted that dicamba and chopping callus have an important role to induce callus and somatic embryo. This is the first report achieved on in vitro propagation of this plant and it will be beneficial for genetic conservation and biotechnological applications in the future.

Carrot is an important vegetable crop worldwide valued for its fleshy edible roots of varied colours. Owing to its highly cross-pollinated nature and small flower size, cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is being utilized for hybrid development. Among different types of male sterility, petaloid CMS is widely used for hybrid carrot breeding globally. This study aimed to develop selection criteria for parents in developing heterotic F1 hybrids using CMS lines. A large number of agro-morphological traits and Simple Sequence Repeats (genomic-SSRs) were used to assess the diversity among parental lines. We developed 60 F1 hybrids by crossing four petaloid CMS lines and 15 testers in line × tester mating design and evaluated them in replicated randomized block design trial for four vegetative and 11 economic traits. The mean squares of all the traits in line × tester interactions were significant. The estimates of genetic components of variance indicated predominance of non-additive gene action except for root maturity, root length and core diameter. The hybrids with highest per se performance also had significant positive specific combining ability effects. The root yield and root weight showed highest heterosis percentage (33%). The best performing heterotic hybrids were DCatH-5392, DCatH-700 and DCatH-9892. Correlation between genetic distance and relative heterosis of economic traits indicated no significant association and thus genetic distance could not be used to predict heterosis. As most of the yield-related traits were controlled by non-additive gene action, heterosis breeding could be potentially used along with combining ability analysis to reduce time in selection of best parents and crosses in tropical carrot.

The root-knot nematodes (RKN) (Meloidogyne graminicola) are a devastating threat to rice worldwide. The cultivated germplasm is either susceptible or moderately resistant to rice RKN. Therefore, there is a need to identify resistance sources against M. graminicola as an eco-friendly management strategy. The present study evaluated the host response of Oryza sativa genotypes comprising basmati, non-basmati improved varieties, their advanced breeding lines (83) and Oryza glaberrima accessions (42) against M. graminicola in the nematode-infested plot for two consecutive years. All O. sativa genotypes exhibited susceptible responses, while O. glaberrima accessions showed variable levels of resistance. Three of the O. glaberrima accessions (IRGC102196, IRGC102538 and IRGC102557) were highly resistant. M. graminicola significantly affected plant growth parameters in susceptible genotypes compared to resistant O. glaberrima accessions. The results were supported by histopathological studies that showed apparent giant cell formation in PR121 while penetration and development of M. graminicola juveniles were low in the O. glaberrima acc. IRGC102196. In silico analysis indicated that none of the reported nematode resistance genes from different crops had homology with the rice genome. The two anti-nematode genes (Oryzacystatin-I and Oryzacystatin-II) from O. sativa japonica revealed homology with O. sativa cv. PR121 and O. glaberrima acc. IRGC102206. Comparative analysis of these genes between PR121 and O. glaberrima acc. IRGC102206 resulted in the identification of SNPs/InDels that could be associated with nematode resistance. The identified SNPs/InDels could be validated, and further molecular studies are needed to provide insights into the resistance mechanism against rice RKN.

This study was designed to understand how drought stress impact on the physiological and molecular status of genetically diverse Lolium perenne L. (perennial ryegrass) populations. The sensitivities of the 36 perennial ryegrass populations were checked against PEG-6000-simulated drought stress by analysing physiological status. Afterward, drought-related gene expressions were evaluated under normal and stressed conditions. The drought stress significantly up-regulated the drought-related genes in P6, P10, P15 and P30, while no difference was observed in drought-sensitive ones. The results collectively showed that four populations (P6, P10, P15, P30) are tolerant to drought stress and activate drought-related genes. Genetic similarities of the populations were also monitored using microsatellite (SSR) markers. The ten SSR primers detected 38 alleles. Surprisingly, the drought-tolerant populations were classified into different groups by principal component (PCA) and cluster analysis, showing that they are genetically different. Moreover, four unique alleles were identified by two SSR primers (P-07, and P-08) in P6, P10 and P15. In addition, the drought-tolerant populations (P6, P10, P15, P30) can be used to develop new perennial ryegrass cultivars for areas having drought problems.

Valtrate is the major active component of iridoids in Valeriana jatamansi plants, and has been widely used for the treatment of various diseases, giving rise to rapidly increasing market demands. The gene VjG10H from V. jatamansi encoding geraniol 10-hydroxylase (G10H) was introduced into V. jatamansi hairy roots and a transgenic hairy root culture system of V. jatamansi with good valtrate production ability was successfully established for the first time. The valtrate content of VjG10H-transformed lines ranged from 8.12 to 10.77 mg/g, with an average valtrate content (9.52 mg/g) of all the four G lines being higher than the non-transgenic hairy root line. Overexpression of VjG10H significantly improved valtrate production, indicating that G10H played an important role in stimulating valtrate accumulation. MeJA treatment stimulated valtrate accumulation in all of the VjG10H overexpression recombinant lines compared to untreated cultures, indicating that methyl jasmonate treatment was another effective regulation target for metabolic engineering of valtrate biosynthesis in V. jatamansi. Thus, transgenic hairy root technology coupled with elicitor treatments may be a promising strategy to increase valtrate yield in V. jatamansi.

Jujube is both consumed as a food source and medicinal plant in local markets. It is expected that different geographical populations of Ziziphus jujuba, differ in their genetic content as they grow in different ecological conditions. It is important to have detailed information on population genetic structure and the available genetic variability to make a proper germplasm collection of jujube. We have no data on jujube populations of Iran based on SCoT and REMAP molecular markers, and therefore we planned a population genetic study of these trees in 10 geographical areas. We used SCoT and REMAP molecular markers for our genetic investigation. We found the loci with a high value of Gst (1.00) in SCoT and REMAP markers that can be used in fingerprinting of jujube.

Water stress conditions have occurred in the past in various places of the world, affecting the yield and production of numerous crops, including wheat. The aim of this research was to estimate standard heterosis under two different water regimes for grain yield and its attributes in 33 crosses, which were obtained by crossing 11 lines and 3 testers in a Line × Tester mating design. The best cross combinations for yield and contributing traits under irrigated condition were C4, C8, C33, C24, and C23, compared to both checks HD2967 and PBW660. Whereas, in rainfed condition, C18, C14, C26, C21, and C20 crosses were superior to the checks. For both irrigated and rainfed conditions, the best cross combinations identified were C29, C15, C32, C2, and C31. As a result, these cross combinations could be used in wheat breeding programmes to improve bread wheat genotypes for increased grain yield, agro-morphological features, and water stress tolerance. The presence of high heterosis for yield-contributing traits not only aids in the development of hybrids by exploiting heterosis but also in the production of transgressive segregants to develop elite lines.

Tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze) leaves are an important beverage crop due to their high caffeine content. Although the north of Iran is the main region for high-quality tea plants, there is no document on variations of phenotypic traits of different accessions. The present study was to assess the biodiversity of 12 tea accessions originating from four tea main sites in Iran (Langroud, Siahkal, Kobijar and Bazkiaguorab) using multivariate analysis. Two-year-old tea plants were cultivated in a completely randomized design with five replicates in a greenhouse. One year after plant establishment, phenotypic characteristics were studied. The tea accessions showed different responses in chlorophyll and total ash contents. The highest and lowest amount of caffeine in tea accessions was found in Kobijar A7 and Langroud A2, respectively. Epicatechin was obtained in a 6.48–15.44 mg g−1 range, and the maximum variability was found in epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), differing from 0.94 to 21.03 mg g−1. Langroud A2 and Bazkiaguorab A11 contained the maximum EGCG and the total polyphenolic content in Bazkiaguorab was greater than other accessions. Heat map analysis showed the maximum variability of EGCG, catechin, and GA among the accessions. The main essential oil compounds were 2-pentyl furan followed by hexanal, gamma-terpinene, octane, ortho-cymene, terpinen-4-ol, alpha-copaene and E-caryophyllene. In conclusion, changes in phytochemical traits caused by genetics and origin can significantly alter the quality of tea compounds. The results of this study can be utilized as raw materials in future breeding projects to improve new cultivars with superior characteristics.

Common lilac (Syringa vulgaris L.) is a popular landscaping plant. Our aim was to obtain a large set of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers, to reveal the precise identities of the investigated S. vulgaris accessions, and to discover genetic relationships among them. The studied plant material included local Finnish, previously unidentified accessions, known reference cultivars, and so-called historical accessions i.e., old shrubs growing in historic cultural landscapes. We intended to verify cultivar names for some valuable local common lilac accessions and to provide insights into the history of common lilac cultivation in Finland. In the analyses, we used a set of 15,007 SNP markers. First, polymorphic information contents were calculated (mean 0.190, range 0.012–0.500 per marker). Then, to investigate genetic relationships among genotypes, a phylogenetic tree was constructed, and a principal coordinate analysis was conducted. A Bayesian analysis of population structure was performed to determine the number and distribution of genetic clusters among samples. Genetic marker data combined with existing historical and phenotypic knowledge revealed novel information on the unidentified cultivars and on the genetic relationships among studied accessions and solved the arrival and early history of common lilac in Finland. Overall, such comprehensive genomic characterization and deep understanding of genetic relationships of S. vulgaris can be used when utilizing present cultivars and developing new ones in future breeding programs.