Abstract

Plant Trigonella foenum-graecum or fenugreek belongs to family Papilionaceae. Two taxonomically Trigonella species and 61 accession were analyzed with 18 random primers to evaluate genetic diversity and species relation. TFG and TC have been used for study, among these cultivars there is almost no or very little intraspecific difference in morphological manifestations however TFG and TC elite cultivars. Total genomic DNA was extracted by CTAB method with some modification. PCR amplification was carried out by using master cycler gradient thermal cycler. From total 18 primers screened across all species and accession scoring 141 bands of which 74 were polymorphic. On average 7.7 bands per primer were scored. The percentage of polymorphic band ranged from 66% to 100% with an average of 52.85%. Only the amplified DNA fragment ranging in size between 200 to 1000 bps was used for statistical analyses.  Cluster analysis based on the presence or absence of band was performed by Jaccard’s similarity coefficient, based on unweighted pair group method with arithemetic averages (UPGMA). Genetic similarity ranged between 0.66 to 0.90, indicating a moderate to high genetic variability. The highest similarity coefficient was detected between accession DA-30, VR-76, VR-67, DA- 03 and DM-37, and the lowest in accession TFG sp. and TG sp., respectively. The dendrogram revealed two main clusters. Each cluster was divided into subgroup. This investigation showed that RAPD marker is a useful tool for evaluation of genetic diversity and relationship amongst different Trigonella species.

Key words: Trigonella foenum-graecum, RAPD, varieties, primer, genetic diversity.