African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5 (13), pp. 1214-1219, 3 July 2006   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2006 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

Genetic diversity in green gram [Vigna radiata (L.)] landraces analyzed by using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)

Karuppanapandian T^1*, Karuppudurai T², Pritam Bala Sinha¹, Hamarul Haniya A³, Manoharan K¹

¹Department of Plant Sciences, ²Department of Animal Behaviour and Physiology, Centre of Potential in Genomic Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai 625 021, India.

³Department of Biotechnology, Srimad Andavan Arts & Science College, Thiruvanaikoil, Tiruchirappalli 620 005, India.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: tkpandian78@rediffmail.com.

Accepted 18 April, 2006

Green gram [Vigna radiata (L.)] landraces were collected from various localities of Southern Tamil Nadu, India, to determine the extent of genetic diversity at DNA level by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis using 20 decamer primers. All the primers produced polymorphic amplification products with some extent of variation. A total of 200 bands were generated with an average of 10 per primer and exhibited 83.0% polymorphism. Jaccard’s similarity coefficient ranged from 0.64 to 0.93 and concentrated mostly between 0.76 to 0.93. This indicated a rather narrow genetic base of tested green gram landraces. Clustering of green gram landraces into two groups showed reasonable variability that may be exploited for selecting parents for breeding purposes. Generally distinct phenotypes identified using RAPD markers could be potential sources of germplasm for green gram improvement.

Key words: genetic diversity, Jaccard’s similarity, RAPD marker, Vigna radiata.