Genetic relationship among wild and cultivated pigeonpea employing polymorphic DNA markers

Pigeonpea is the most important rain-fed grain legumes (pulse) of the tropics and sub-tropics including India. It is a major source of protein to predominantly vegetarian Indian population. Despite its potentiality to increase the pulses production, insufficient research efforts have been made to this poor man's crop. Determination of genetic diversity in a gene pool is the key to crop improvement and there is very few data base available about genetic diversity in pigeonpea and its wild relatives. In our present study, 28 highly polymorphic RAPD primers were employed and the degree of genetic variation among genotypes varied considerably (0.192 to 0.708). Cluster analysis based on Jaccard's similarity coefficient using UPGMA grouped all the cultivars into two major clusters and was strongly supported by high bootstrap values. The values of the arithmetic mean heterozygosity (H_av), the average heterozygosity for polymorphic markers (H_av)p value and marker index (MI) indicated the efficiency of RAPD as a marker system.