Assessment of Diversity in Terminalia bellerica Roxb. Using Morphological, Phytochemical and Molecular Markers

Abstract

Terminalia bellerica is a medicinal plant of immense therapeutic importance. The present study was aimed to reveal its genetic diversity based on morphological, phytochemical and molecular markers from 28 accessions belonging to 4 ecogeographic regions. Significant differences were observed for morphological descriptors viz., leaf type, fruit shape and plant nature. UPGMA dendrogram for morphochemical traits clustered the accessions into three groups. Molecular diversity was studied using RAPD and ISSR markers. A total of 19 polymorphic primers (15 RAPD and 4 ISSR) produced 55 polymorphic bands with an average of 5.8 bands per primer. At 59% similarity UPGMA derived dendrogram divided the populations into four clusters based on geographical distribution. High genetic differentiation (GST = 0.63) was found among the populations with restricted gene flow (Nm = 0.26). Most of the genetic variations were thus contained among the populations and not within population. The correlation value between the morphological and molecular matrices was low and nonsignificant. This characterization on the basis of morphochemical and molecular markers will help in identification of economically useful genotypes for further conservation and breeding programmes. The present study was aimed to reveal genetic diversity of Terminalia bellerica based on morphological, phytochemical and molecular markers from 28 accessions belonging to 4 ecogeographic regions. UPGMA dendrogram for morphochemical traits clustered the accessions into three groups. Molecular diversity was studied using RAPD and ISSR markers. At 59% similarity UPGMA derived dendrogram divided the populations into four clusters based on geographical distribution. This characterization on the basis of morphochemical and molecular markers will help in identification of economically useful genotypes for further conservation and breeding programmes.