Genetic Relationships of Native Phalaenopsis Orchids from the South Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia: A Morphological and Molecular Approaches

Phalaenopsis (Orchidaceae) is the world's most popular and essential ornamental plant. Consequently, it is unsurprising that this orchid has high economic value and is a promising export commodity. Unfortunately, due to monetary value and other factors, like deforestation and habitat destruction, many Phalaenopsis species have suffered losses and are becoming rare in their natural habitat. This study aims to determine the genetic diversity and relationship of Phalaenopsis orchids natively from South Kalimantan, Indonesia, by using flower morphology and DNA polymorphism (RAPD) markers. A total of eight samples of Phalaenopsis were used in this study. The diversity was determined using the Shannon diversity index (H’). In contrast, the clustering and reconstruction of genetic relationships were performed using an unweighted pair group of arithmetic means (UPGMA) and principal component analysis (PCA). Following morphological traits, Phalaenopsis has a high diversity, averaging 0.71. The molecular markers used (RAPD) also show high genetic diversity. In the study, Phalaenopsis showed a genetic polymorphism of 95.46%. The UPGMA revealed the closest relationship of P. cornu-cervi and P. sumatrana at a genetic distance of 0.878 (for morphological markers) and P. deliciosa and P. modesta at 0.715 (for RAPD markers). In contrast, the furthest relationship was shown by P. amabilis with P. sumatrana, both for morphological (at coef. 0.434) and molecular (0.489) markers. Thus, our results are valuable in supporting the conservation and breeding efforts of Phalaenopsis, locally and globally.