Abstract

Thirty three Aloe accessions were collected from different geographical regions of Iran. Morphological evaluation and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis were applied for showing genetic variations among the studied accessions. Morphological analysis indicated that all the studied characters have a significant difference of P < 0.01 among Aloe accessions. Cluster analysis indicated that there were differences among all accessions and commercial accessions performed better than wild accessions and were ranked higher; while the most wild-accessions performed worse than commercial accessions and were ranked lower. According to the results, 26 bioactive phytochemical compounds were identified. Furthermore, results indicated that these compounds in accordance with identified bioactive phytochemical compounds in wild Aloe plants by other researchers. With attention to the obtained results of GC/MS analysis, these compounds have fluctuated within selective Aloe accessions. Morphological analysis together with GC/MS analysis indicated that there are remarkable genetic variations among selective Aloe accessions.

Key words: Aloe medicinal plant, genetic diversity, phytochemical components, morphological markers, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis.