Assessment of genetic diversity of Asparagus racemosus willd. from different agro-ecological zones of Kerala using RAPD markers

摘要

Twenty accessions of Asparagus racemosus from ten agro-ecological zones of Kerala were evaluated for genetic diversity using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA markers. Twenty random primers were selected based on reproducibility and clarity of bands. A total of 1209 bands were scored out of which, 1181 loci were found to be polymorphic (97.75%). Efficiency parameters of primers viz., Total Number of Loci, Total Number of Polymorphic Loci, Percentage of Polymorphism, Polymorphism Information Content (PIC), Resolving Power, Marker Index and Number of Unique Bands were estimated. Value of PIC varied from 0.059 to 0.209 and OPI19 is proved to be most polymorphic marker. Evaluation of relationship among seven efficiency parameters revealed positive and significant (P<0.01) correlation of Total Number of Loci with Total number of Polymorphic Loci, Resolving Power and Unique Bands. Jaccard’s similarity coefficient varied from 0.118 to 0.566. It indicates presence of large genetic variations within the accessions. The UPGMA dendrogram data revealed genetic relationships within accessions and there is no geographic isolation in the clustering. The present observations suggest that RAPD markers can be used as an effective tool for deriving intra-species genetic diversity among A. racemosus accessions.