Assessment of Genetic Diversity in Jatropha Curcas (L.) Germplasm from India Using Rapd Markers

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to evaluate the genetic diversity among populations of Jatropha curcas (L.) from different agro-climatic regions of India. Out of 305 amplified bands obtained with 30 primers, 291 were found polymorphic. The polymorphisms were scored and used in band-sharing analysis to identify genetic relationship. Evaluated accessions were grouped into two main clusters except MP-020 from Ratlam (Madhya Pradesh) was out crouped from rest of accessions at a similarity coefficient of 0.50. Based on Jaccard's coefficient of similarity values, the maximum similarity was found between accessions MP-022 and MP-031 (0.95). Molecular diversity among the accessions was low at a level of 30 per cent, indicating the need of widening the genetic base of J.curcas through various means.