2016, Vol. 4, Issue 6, Part B

author(s)
Mahesh Kumar, Pradeep Kumar Naik, Sarla Patlan and Vinod Chhokar

abstract
Asparagus racemosus is an important over-exploited endangered medicinal plant. The genetic variability of 60 genotypes collected from different geographical region of India based on ISSR molecular markers and its active compound, saponin was determined. Saponin content varied from 33.02 mg/g to 53.46 mg/g and the 60 genotypes could be grouped into high (42.87-53.46 mg/g), low (33.02-35.58 mg/g) and intermediate (35.70-41.48 mg/g) groups. Sixty three ISSR markers generated a total of 448 polymorphic and 110 monomorphic loci. The size of amplicons ranged from 130 bp to 2.0 kb. The genetic variation measured for the three saponin groups with respect to estimated percentage of the polymorphic loci was 28.57%, 65.93% and 70.33%; Nei’s gene diversity was 0.1129, 0.1469 and 0.1699; Shannon’s information index was 0.1658, 0.2364 and 0.2782 respectively. The estimated overall percentage of polymorphic loci (80.22%), Nei’s gene diversity (0.1527) and Shannon’s information index (0.2512) for the 60 genotypes of Asparagus racemosus indicates a high degree of genetic variability which can potentially be exploited for the production of improved genotypes and conservation practices.