Genetic dissection, relationship and population structure of drumstick (Moringa oleifera Lam.) using Agro-morphological and SCoT markers

Abstract

Drumstick (Moringa oleifera Lam.) is an economically important multipurpose perennial vegetable and every part of this plant contain essential properties for nutritional and medicinal values. Specially its leave can be used as an ideal remedy to combat micronutrient-related malnutrition. However, the assessment of genetic diversity is necessitated to isolate rich nutrient dense genotypes for improving culinary, pharmaceutical, and industrial demands. Therefore, In the present study, a total of 52 accessions collected from diversified areas of southern (Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh); western (Maharashtra, Gujarat), and eastern state (Orissa) of India were assessed for morpho-molecular genetic diversity using 10 morphological traits and 36 Start Codon Targeted (SCoT) markers. Out of 36 SCoT primers, 20 primers were polymorphic, and the polymorphic information content (PIC) value ranged from (0.01–0.36) with mean PIC value of 0.21. The neighbor-joining (N-J) tree grouped the 52 accessions into three major distinct clusters (CI-CIII) and the population structure analysis divided these accessions into two pure population groups (probability score ≥ 0.80). Molecular variance using principal component analysis (PCA) showed 30.25% variations in the first three axes (axis 1–13.33%, axis 2–9.33%, and axis 3–7.59%, respectively). Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that 17% variance observed among the population and the remaining 83% variance attributed to variation within individuals. The present investigation elucidates a high genetic diversity among the drumstick accessions, and some distinct accessions could be utilized for crop improvement programmes in trait-specific breeding.