Legume Research

Lablab purpureus L. is a legume appropriate to grow in tropical environment as it is adaptable to a broad temperature spectrum, rainfall and altitudes. It develops well under humid and warm conditions at temperatures ranging between 18°C and 30°C. It is a drought hardy crop grown in humid and semi-arid regions. The species is propagated by seed and can be sown alone or intercropped; planted near hedges or near other less leafy plants to climb on. Lablab purpureus L. has a flowering response of shortday, with early and late flowering types. Some landraces flower after sowing as early as 55 days. It is predominantly self pollinated although some out crossing is known to occur.

In this study, Lablab purpureus L. genetic diversity were analyzed utilizing AFLP markers on ten Indian Lablab purpureus L. accessions at Department of Botany, Bundelkhand University, Jhansi during 2019-20. Five primers set were used for checking the diversity in Lablab purpureus L. and the marker performance were measured by using 4 parameters i.e. PIC, Mean resolving Power, Resolving Power and MI.

A total of 52 bands were generated, of which 45 bands (88.46%) were polymorphic which varies from 6 (M-CAT/E-ACT ) to 13 (M-CAC/E-ACC, M-CAC/E-ACT) with mean of 9.00 bands per primer. The PIC value ranges between 0.55 and 0.76 with a mean value of 0.64. The average value of matrix index is 3.04. Higher the MI, better the marker is. The value of RP ranges between 2.60 and 7.80 with a mean value of 4.68. In the UPGMA dendrogram, the 10 accessions were separated into two main clusters with all the primers used. In this study, we have shown that molecular markers can be used successfully to understand the genetic structure of the accessions of Lablab purpureus L. and identified a series of sequence-specific markers that potentially could be used in Lablab purpureus L. genetic mapping analyses. Since Lablab purpureus L. has been considered as a promising crop because of its wide spectrum of adaptability to different ecological conditions than other legumes, participatory evaluation at an early breeding stage could shape the variety being developed to increase the productivity and other traits as well as for utilization as food.