GENETIC DIVERSITY IN BLACKGRAM [VIGNA MUNGO (L.) HEPPER] FOR RANDOMLY AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA (RAPD) MARKERS

Abstract

Thirty seven pure-lines of blackgram were studied for Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers to investigate diversity. Among 53 primers 36 produced polymorphic fragments in blackgram, hence could be used for investigating genetic diversity. Ninety four markers were observed from 11 primers and out of these 72% were polymorphic. The genotypes acquired from Korea, Afghanistan and AVRDC grouped together, whereas genotypes from Pakistan and India were scattered. The RAPD markers were found useful for studying genetic diversity but clustering did not exhibited indication for agronomic performance, whereas quantitative traits contributed more towards agronomic performance. Cluster revealed that only a portion of genetic diversity has been exploited for blackgram improvement that should broaden involving diverse parents from various clusters.