Abstract
Avocado (Persea americana Mill.) is a nutritious and economic tree crop with cultivations scattered all over Ghana. Although, there have been some genetic diversity research on this crop in some parts of the world, rather limited research has been done on avocado in Ghana. A study was therefore conducted to assess its genetic diversity in the Ashanti and Central Regions of Ghana. Microsatellites analyses revealed 115 different amplification fragments ranging from 5 to 22 alleles per locus, with an average of 11.5 alleles per locus. All the microsatellites were highly informative with both genetic diversity and polymorphic informative content (PIC) higher than 0.5. Using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic averages (UPGMA), the genotypes were clustered into groups. The wide genetic diversity among the accessions indicates that there is a wide genetic base for improvement of the crop through breeding and selection in Ghana.
Key words: Amplification fragments, polymorphic information content, accessions microsatellites, alleles.
