EN
RFLP analysis of mitochondrial DNA was carried out with eight restriction enzymes BamHI, EcoRI, HaeIII, HindIII, MspI, PstI, SalI and XhoI, from which nine mitochondrial gene probes (atp6, atp9, atp1, cox1, nad3, nad6, nad9, pol-r, orf25) were hybridized, by means of digestion products, for seven species of the genus Secale. RFLP EcoRI/pol-r specific markers were determined for all the species of rye. To estimate the relationships among species, genetic pairwise similarities between them were estimated and a UPGMA dendrogram was constructed. The analysis separated the species into two groups. The first comprises the pair Secale sylvestre Host and S. cereale subsp. segetale Zhuk., exhibiting the greatest genetic similarity, that is, closest relationships. The second group is composed of S. strictum/Presl/Presl, S. strictum/Presl/Presl subsp. kuprijanovii/Grossh./ Hammer, S. strictum/Presl/Presl subsp. africanum/Stapf/Hammer, Secale cereale L. and S. vavilovii Grossh., with one clear subgroup comprising Secale strictum/Presl/Presl and S. strictum/Presl/Presl subsp. kuprijanovii/ Grossh./Hammer. The latter two species showed the highest genetic similarity to each other and relatively high genetic similarity to the remaining species in the group.