Quantification and Diversity in the Black Seeds (Nigella sativa L.) Gene Stock of Pakistan for their Composition of Mineral Nutrients

Abstract

Nigella sativa (L.) a member of family Ranunculaceae is an annual herbaceous plant indigenous to the Mediterranean region contains more than 100 nutrients and had been used for edible and medicinal purposes in major parts of the world since long. Present study is on the analysis of thirty four accessions with two check genotypes for genetic diversity based on thirteen mineral nutrients. High variation for Fe, Ca, Cu, Mg, Pb, Zn, Co, Mn, Na, P, B, K and N indicated the scope of sample selection for these characters. Coeffcient of correlation studies revealed that Cu had significantly positive correlation with Ca, whereas Mg was significantly correlated with Ca and Cu. Linkages of desirable traits are suggested to be broken through novel techniques for maximum exploitation of genomic diversity for valuable phyto-chemicals. Based on principal component analysis, first four factors contributed 62 percent of the variability amongst genotypes for mineral nutrients. Eigen value > I exhibited 23.57 % of variation for component l, 17.28 % for component 2 and 12.43 % of variation for component 3, respectively. Moreover, it also reflects the potential of improvement, through building broad based gene pool by acquiring more samples from diverse geographical areas. These principal components could be selected individually for the improvement of specific mineral nutrients for multipurpose use and applications. Six clusters were observed for 36 genotypes based on mineral nutrients. The genotypes Pk-020877, Plc-020749, Pk-020876, Pk-020545, Pk-020561, Pk-020781 & Pk-020729, Pk-020620, Pk-020561, Pk-020631, Pk-020879, Pk-020868 produced the highest N (5.56), Fe (0.74), ca (10.83), Mg (11.56), Pb (0.09), zn (0.09), Na (0.68), P (0.66), B (39.58), and K (0.99), whereas Pk-020873 produced lowest N (1.67), Pk-020766 Fe (0.10), Pk-020576 ca (7.38), Pk-020585 Mg (9.40), check-2 Pb (0.02), Pk-020872 zn (0.01), Pk-020781 & Pk-020877 Na (0.17), check-2 P (0.50), Pk-020585 B (13.67) and Pk-020699 for K (0.63) produced the lowest mineral contents, hence these genotypes are suggested to be utilized in various combinations for genetic improvement of Nigella sativa L.