Assessment of Genetic Parameters and Diversity Organization of Ginger Accessions Cultivated in Burkina Faso as Revealed by Microsatellite Markers

Abstract

Rhizomes of Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) are widely used as a spice across the world. It has originated from South-east Asia and introduced to many parts of the world, and has been cultivated as a spice and for medicinal purpose. Ginger is a high value crop in Burkina Faso. The genetic diversity organization in ginger species is not well-known in Burkina Faso. Genetic resources are imperative for varietal selection. The importance of genetic resources depends on the levels of their diversity. The present investigation aims to assess the diversity of ginger accessions collected from Burkina Faso. Forty-seven ginger accessions collected from three provinces, Comoé (03), Léraba (14), Kénédougou (30), located in the southwestern zone of Burkina Faso were genotyped for their molecular traits using microsatellite markers. A total of 24 alleles were revealed by electrophoresis. All the simple-sequence repeats (SSR) set primers used revealed high polymorphic rate (100%) with the expected heterozygosity (0.499), showing their ability in assessment of the diversity levels and genetic organization of ginger accessions due to their codominance. The dendrogram obtained by the Neighbor-Joining method revealed three main genetic groups. The genetic differentiation index value (0.313) showed that the accessions of the three provinces were different, with an interesting diversity observed from kénédougou ginger accessions. Information from this study could be used in the development of effective management strategies for the conservation and effective use of the genetic resources within ginger accessions grown in Burkina Faso.