ASSESSMENT OF GENETIC DIVERSITY AMONG INDIAN FENUGREEK (TRIGOI ELLA FOENUM-GRAECUM L.) VARIETIES USING MORPHOLOGICAL AND RAPD MARKERS

The study was conducted to reveal genetic variability among the released varieties of fenugreek from different regions of India using morphological and molecular markers. Seventeen varieties were evaluated for important characteristics like plant height, test weight, total weight, yield per plant, pod length, pod per plant, pod per axis, petiole length and 50% flowering. In this study, Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to assess genetic diversity wherein fifteen polymorphic primers showed a 57.66% polymorphism. All the varieties were classified into two major clusters viz., cluster-I and cluster-II, cluster-I is further divided into five sub clusters containing twelve varieties namely Hisar Suvarna, Hisar Sonali, Rajendra Kranti, Hisar Mukta, Hisar Madhavi, AM-2, GM-2, AM-1, Azad Methi, CO-2, RMT-143 and RMT-351 showing genetic similarity irrespective of their geographical distribution. Cluster-II contains five varieties viz., Lam Selection, RMT-1, RMT-305, RMT-303 and Pant Ragini. In morphological analysis few varieties did not follow the pattern of RAPD analysis indicating their phenotypic characters to be influenced by the environmental factors. Morphological dendrogram also showed two major clusters and Pant Ragini was found to branch out distinctly confirming its uniqueness from all other varieties.