Molecular Characterization and DivergenceAnalysis of Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) Genotypes Using SSR Markers

The research was conducted at the Vegetable Research Centre, Department of Horticulture, Biotechnology Centre and Department of Food Science and Technology, Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. Twenty Four Genotypes were taken for Molecular characterization. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers are highly effective co-dominant markers that target specific loci within the genome and are commonly employed in molecular studies. Total 29 previously reported SSR primer from different linkage groups, all are of the series ‘FV’ and SSR1015 designs in Fennel were used for initial screening to amplify DNA from these twenty- four Fennel genotypes to screen the candidate markers for divergence and phylogeny of Fennel genotypes. Out of 13 amplified SSR marker, 12 SSR marker were found polymorphic and one primer was found monomorphic. A total of 30 alleles were amplified by these 13 primers and 29 alleles were found to be polymorphic and one allele was found monomorphic. The SSR primer, SSR1015-66 revealed highest PIC value i.e. 0.4878 followed by FV-30720 (0.4705), FV-253 (0.3968) and FV-181677 (0.3633); whereas the primer FV-65 revealed the lowest (0.0767) PIC value followed by FV-18902 (0.292), FV-6 (0.328) and FV-144120 (0.3589). Thus, PIC values of 12 primers ranged from 0.0767 to 0.4878. Nine distinct clusters were found to represent the unique grouping of 24 genotypes. In cluster-I, was evolved as the largest one with sixteen accessions i.e. FNL-131, FNL-139, FNL-141, FNL-133, FNL-138, FNL-134 and FNL-140 were found to be similar to each other. The cluster-II, six accessions namely JF-1, JF-2, JF-3, Jagudan-1, Jagudan-2 and RF-178. The cluster-III six accessions namely FNL-135, FNL-137 and FNL-136. The cluster-IV and cluster-V was evolved as the moderate two accessions FNL-130, FNL-132 and RF-205, RF-281. The cluster-VI, VII, VIII and IX was evolved as the smallest cluster with four accessions i.e. RF-143, RF-125, RF-101 and FNL- 142.