GENETIC DIVERSITY AMONG INDIAN VARIETIES OF FOENICULUM VULGARE AND CUMINUM CYMINUM BASED ON NUCLEAR RIBOSOMAL DNA AND RAPD ANALYSES

Abstract

Fennel and cumin are important seed spices of family Apiaceae with diversified uses. We investigated the extent of variability in 13 varieties of fennel and 6 varieties of cumin using phenotypic and genetic markers. Multilocus genotyping by RAPD primers detected an average of intraspecific variations amounting to 56.52% and 23.17% polymorphism in banding patterns in fennel and cumin, respectively. AMOVA indicated that a greater proportion of total genetic variation exists within population rather than among populations. Six cumin varieties exhibited a uniform ITS length of 600bp with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Besides total ITS length variations and (SNPs), INDELS were also detected at several sites in ITS-1 region of fennel. Eventually, the knowledge of their genetic relationships and intra-specific diversity will be of significance in developing intra-specific crosses of this collection of fennel and cumin in ongoing Indian spices breeding programme.