Microsatellite Marker on Date Palms (Phoenix dactylifera L.)‎

The ‎most common characteristics that are used to ‎identify different cultivars of date palm are the ‎morphology of leaves, spines, and fruit however, ‎morphological traits are often unreliable or ‎imprecise indicators of plant genotype because they ‎are influenced by environmental conditions ‎and vary with the developmental stage of plants.‎ Marker technology using DNA fingerprinting methods such as Microsatellite SSR marker has become increasingly important in ‎recent years to ‎discriminate closely related plant cultivars and have been ‎used to study the genetic diversity ‎and relationships of date palm cultivars in many countries.