Genetic diversity among cardamom germplasm accessions assessed by SSR and ISSR analysis

Abstract: Cardamom (Elettaria cardamom Maton; Zingiberacea), the ‘Queen of spices’ is one of the most important and highly priced spices. The important areas of cultivation in Kerala are Nelliampathy, Wynad and Idukki. The origin of cardamom is believed to be in the Western Ghats, where presumably rich and untapped genetic diversity of the cardamom still resides. Biodiversity present in the wild relatives of crop plants in Kerala have not yet been addressed properly (Nayar, 2011). The present study aims to collect and evaluate genetic diversity among wild cardamom populations in comparison to the cultivated counterparts.

Citation

Ashitha J P, Anija T A, Anjali, N and K K Sabu. 2013. Genetic diversity among cardamom germplasm accessions assessed by SSR and ISSR analysis. Proc of the 25th Kerala Science Congress held at Technopark at Thiruvananthapuram during 29th January to 1st February 2013, pp. 263-265 (03-27).

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Genetic variation in south Indian populations of Phyllanthus amarus Schum. & Thonn. (Euphorbiaceae), assessed using isozymes

Abstract
Fifteen populations of Phyllanthus amarus from different parts of southern India were subjected to assessment of genetic diversity using isozymes. Analyses include electrophoretic separation of isozymes, scoring of active loci and genetic data analysis using POPGENE®. The six isozymes scored for a total of 14 loci with an overall polymorphism of 48.57%. Mean observed number of alleles was 1.56 and gene diversity index averaged to 0.39. In general, our studies reveal the existence of intraspecific genetic variations in P. amarus. Considering the medicinal importance, possible negative influence of intraspecific variations in the maintenance of constancy of drugs prepared from this herb may be anticipated and hence caution must be exercised during product preparations. Besides, it is recommended that a concerted effort need to be undertaken to superimpose genetic and medicinal profile to identify putative populations for conservation as well as sustainable utilization.

Published in:
Proceedings of the Fifteenth Kerala Science Congress (03 – 17), 29-31 January 2003, Thiruvananthapuram, pp. 196-201