The Bulgarian raspberry germplasm collection contains both Bulgarian and foreign varieties with valuable agronomic characters of commercial value. At present, mainly Bulgarian raspberry varieties are grown in Bulgaria with qualities famous in other European countries (Romania, Hungary, Poland, Russia etc.). The study of genetic diversity in the Bulgarian raspberry germplasm collection is mainly based on morphological descriptions. Morphological characteristics are important tools but they are not enough for evaluation of the genetic diversity due to the influence of environmental factors and low number of loci studied. The application of molecular markers should give an enable breeders to expand genetic diversity in breeding material and allow selection of new perspective forms in future breeding programmes. In this article we present our initial study on the assessment of genetic diversity among Bulgarian and foreign raspberry accessions using Simple Sequence Repeat (SSRs) markers. Sixteen raspberry cultivars (six Bulgarian, eight foreign and two wild accessions) were screened for their polymorphism at four loci using polymorphic microsatellite markers. The value determined for genetic variation demonstrated a high genetic diversity in the Bulgarian raspberry germplasm collection. Genetic diversity (GD) calculated from SSR data ranged from 0,740 to 0,887 with a mean GD-0.839.

IntroductionThe development of regeneration procedures from various plant organs allows the establishment of useful genetic variation. Such procedures are an obligatory prerequisite of numerous biotechnology and classical breeding programs. This is particularly true for perennial crops such as the small fruits or fruit trees where the classical breeding process is rather extensive and prolonged.

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