Date palm is among the top three fruit crops of Pakistan which is grown throughout the country except the northern highlands. This study was conducted for evaluation of morphological, chemical and molecular diversity of date palm cultivars in Pakistan. Twenty two morphological parameters of fruit, leaf and trunk of forty five locally adapted cultivars were studied for this purpose. Proximate analysis of the date fruit was also done. Morphological traits of trunk, leaves and spines had no significant correlation with fruit traits. Seven components were found to explain 81% variability in the data set by principal component analysis. Length and width of leaf, weight, volume, diameter and length of fruit, weight of pulp, weight of seed, height of perianth, total soluble solids, % moisture, % total sugars and % reducing sugars largely contributed to variability among the cultivars. Forty six simple sequence repeat markers were used to find genetic diversity in date palm cultivars under study. Only two out of forty six SSR markers showed polymorphism with amplification of five amplicons in total. Only two of the tested markers amplified

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Date palm has a long history of cultivation and a valuable germplasm with little knowledge about its genetic makeup and variation among the most cultivated cultivars. Diversity is the variability of a species. Plants show variation in yield, vegetative traits and morphological properties of fruits and seeds in response to environmental changes. Molecular markers or DNA markers have been in use since past three decades. The DNA profiles give information about the genotype, screen the whole genome and show variation in both the coding and noncoding region and hence give information about polymorphism. Since plastid genes are transferred mostly from the mother line, the identification of maternal lines is possible by the sequencing of plastid genes. Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) can detect length variation with the help of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and may be used as highly informative genetic markers. Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNPs) are the third generation of molecular markers. SNPs are more stable and have high fidelity of inheritance as compared to other marker systems. Molecular markers have been developed but they are not enough for sufficient diversity assessment. Therefore there is a need to increase the number of DNA markers in date palm. Previously, there are several studies to type various commercially important germplasm based on morphological or yield parameters. Morphological and biochemical markers are limited in number and are affected by environmental factors and growth stage of the plant which reduce their reliability in the assessment of diversity and characterization of the germplasm. This necessitates the use of genetic characterization, utilizing DNA markers, gene sequencing or SNP genotyping which can work independent of the plant growth stage and are not affected by environmental factors. A combination of morphological, biochemical and molecular characterization of the date palm cultivars can better assess the level of diversity and relationship among the cultivars.