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Abstract
1. INTRODUCTION
Carrots (Daucus Carota L.) as a root crop, is grown for the prominent root structure and its flavor and color. It is the most important crop, of all the root crops, which is characterized by high vitamin A, mineral and dietary fiber contents, that contributes to its importance as a major food crop utilized in the diet. However, the information about carrot breeding and genetics in the literature is not enough. It ranks second after potatoes in the Mediterranean region. Carrots originated in Afghanistan and possibly northern Iran and Pakistan (Simon, 2003a). The first cultivated carrots were long and woody textured with a purple color. Yellow types, that may originated as a purple- free mutant, were selected and cultured in Syria and Turky in the ninth or tenth century, then spread to China and to Europe after that.
Mackevic (1929 and 1932) classified the cultivated carrots into two main groups; 1) Eastern / Asiatic carrots: which are often called anthocyanin carrot for their purple roots. They have slightly dissected leaves, with branched and larger core roots and are annual plants, and 2) Western or carotene carrot: That have orange, red or white roots. Most likely this group may originated from the first one as mutant. The roots are unranked, having a bright green, sparsely foliage, and biennial. The anthocyanin carrots are of interest in processing, but they have low reproductive root yield, (Banga, 1962). The yellow –orange or the orange color of the second group are caused by carotene pigments. Imam and Gabelman, 1968; Laferrier and Gabelman, 1968 and Umiel and Gabelman, 1971 and 1972 traced back the carotenoids in carrot to alpha and beta-carotenes. The cultivated carrot, hybridized from the wild carrot, can be either an annual (mainly in the tropics) or biennial (mainly in temperate areas). Recently, in the last fifty years, some efforts were directed to the genetic improvement of carrot. During the breeding process over time these have been significant changes in sh