Molecular assessment of genetic diversity in Acacia senegal

Abstract

Acacia senegal is well adapted to arid environment of western Rajasthan and has a potential to restore soil fertility and sand dune stabilization. There is a scope of improvement by exploiting geographical genetic diversity. It is a drought- tolerant multipurpose leguminous African tree species and also an important forest resource for gum Arabic, fuel, food and fodder. Thirteen selected plants showing significantly high and low seed yields from Rajasthan and exotic locations, viz Niger, Mali, Senegal and Sudan, transplanted in 1988 at Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), Jodhpur, were subjected to randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. Six random primers generated a total of 86 scorable loci and exhibited 77.77 to 94.73% polymorphism. Unweighed pair group method using arithmetic averages (UPGMA) dendrogram obtained from cluster analysis using Jaccard’s similarity coefficient delineated all the 13 population samples representing seven geographical populations. The results clearly revealed existence of genetic diversity within and among geographical populations of A. senegal. The Indian population exhibited the maximum genetic diversity from rest of the African populations.