Morphological Characterization and SSR Marker Assay of Mango Landraces of West Coast of Kerala, India

Abstract

Mango is an indigenous crop that originated in North East India-Myanmar region. Local landraces of mangoes found on the South West coastal regions and North East India were found to have many useful traits, including the tendency of polyembryony. To estimate the diversity available in the landraces maintained at ICAR-NBPGR, regional station, Thrissur, morphological characterization was carried out using twelve qualitative and ten quantitative traits. To complement the morphological data, the molecular assay was performed using SSR markers. Qualitative leaf traits accounted for less variation, although large variability was observed in all quantitatively measured traits, indicating high genetic variability among local types. The molecular genetic distance derived from the similarity coefficient ranged between 0.12 to 0.96. Twenty genotypes were grouped into two, having a significant degree of polymorphism. This study supports the availability of high variability between landraces, which is an important factor in the effective utilization and in situ conservation of genetic resources.