Molecular Characterization of Some Nigerian Date Palm Accessions Using RAPD Markers - Abstract
Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) belongs to Arecaceae family. It is a dioecious and long lived monocotyledonous fruit tree and one of the most important tree crops of Sahel, Sudan and Guinea Savannah ecologies in Nigeria. The genetic diversity of the crop in the experimental gene pool conserved in Dutse, Nigeria, is yet to be ascertained, most especially, using molecular markers. The leaves of each of the 21 accessions were collected from young (3 weeks-1 month old) date palm seedlings. A total of 125 amplified fragments were distinguished across the selected primers and the statistical analysis showed 106 polymorphic bands among the 21 genotypes with an average of 84.3 polymorphic bands per primer. The highest numbers of fragment bands were produced by the primer OPH-06 with 100% polymorphism while the lowest numbers of fragments were produced by the primer OPH-04 with 71% polymorphism. Cluster analysis by UPGMA showed 12 main clusters among the genotypes based on difference at the genetic level. The highest diversity (least similarity coefficient, 0.07) was found between accessions R5P24 and R16P31 in group IV, indicating low genetic relationship and high genetic diversity between the accessions. The least diversity (highest similarity coefficient, 4.04) was found between accessions ZARIYA and R4P29 in group III. The results of molecular analysis were adapted with genetic variation. RAPD technology therefore proves very effective for identifying genotypes, polymorphism and genetic distance of date palm. Therefore, making it very useful for future breeding programmes.