Assessment of the genetic diversity of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera L. Dunal) using agro-morphological, phytochemical and molecular markers

Abstract

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera Dunal) is a crucial medicinal plant known as Indian ginseng; the dried roots of which are used in traditional systems of medicine. In the present investigation, genetic diversity was estimated among 24 morphologically distinct ashwagandha accessions using molecular, phytochemical and morphological markers. Out of 60 randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers used to estimate the genetic relationships, 27 primers produced better polymorphic and reproducibility pattern. An average of 9 DNA fragments was amplified by each primer within the range of 200 to 2000 bp in size. The genetic diversity among the accessions measured by Jaccard’s similarity coefficient varied from (0.440 to 0.831). The highest (0.831) and lowest (0.440) was measured between DWS-95 and DWS-141 and between DWS-327 and DWS-133 respectively.