Abstract

In Andaman and Nicobar Islands, wide diversity of papaya germplasm exists and has not been characterized. Therefore, there is difficulty in differentiating the papaya accessions in different regions of the Islands. Hence, the present investigation was undertaken for characterizing Carica papaya L. genotypes using morphological and DNA marker technology. Seventy three genotypes of C. papaya collected from different parts of South and Little Andaman Islands were used for analysis. Accessions collected from different parts of Islands showed widest morphological diversity in terms of fruit weight, fruit length, fruit girth, flesh thickness and total suspended solids content. A set of 24 ISSR primers were taken for DNA fingerprinting, among them 6 inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSRs) primers produced 212 amplicons out of which 62 gave 29.2% polymorphism. The maximum number of polymorphic bands was obtained from primer ISSR 15. Cluster analysis revealed that the genotypes are grouped into three clusters with 37% similarity. The present study has shown that the genotypes from various islands differ from each other of which the genotypes collected from Hut Bay (Ac.49) and Neil Island (Ac.14 and Ac.16) were distinct.

Key words: Inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSRs), genetic diversity, Carica papaya.