Isozyme analysis of five indian cultivars of lucerne (Medicago sativa L.)

Five cultivars of lucerne namely Anand-2, LLC-3, Co-1, Rl-88 and T-9 were evaluated using nine enzyme systems to estimate the level of similarities/dissimilarities among them. Native and SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was also carried out at two different stages i.e., seedling and seed. Dendrogram developed based on 47 isoforms of these enzymes yielded two clusters. One cluster was further divided into two sub-clusters. The results indicated 94% similarity among Co-1 and LLC-3 whereas minimum similarity was observed between RL-88 and T-9 with Anand-2 (84%). Anand -2 was identified as distinct cultivar which can be used as distinct line in breeding programmes.