Development of a SCoT-derived SCAR marker associated with tall-type palm trait in arecanut and its utilization in hybrid (dwarf x tall) authentication

Arecanut cultivars are generally tall, which is a major constraint in arecanut cultivation. High yielding tall cultivars have been crossed with natural dwarf mutant, Hirehalli Dwarf (HD) and hybrids have been developed and released for commercial cultivation. It is very difficult to distinguish selfed progenies of the female mother palm in the nursery stage using morphological traits. Start Codon Targeted (SCoT) primers were used to screen tall cultivars of arecanut and HD. One of the primers, SCoT11, produced an amplicon of around 1300 bp band, which was present in all the tall cultivars, but was absent in the dwarf accession. A SCAR marker, capable of distinguishing tall/dwarf trait in arecanut, was also developed and validated, which could ensure supply of genuine hybrid planting material to the farming community.