ASSESSMENT OF GENETIC DIVERSITY IN OKRA (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) USING RAPD MARKERS

Thirty nine okra genotypes were assessed for genetic variability using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. Twenty polymorphic RAPD primers amplified 111 DNA fragments, with an average of 5.5 fragments per primer. Among 39 okra genotypes, 107 fragments (96%) were found to be polymorphic. The UPGMA cluster analysis placed okra genotypes into seven main clusters. ‘Sabzpari 2001’ and ‘Acc.No.019221’ had shown maximum similarity (83%) while the minimum similarity (44.14%) was observed between the genotypes ‘Punjab Selection’ and ‘Acc.No.019217’. Thus, by using RAPD primers a considerable polymorphism appeared to exist, which showed genetic variability in the okra genotypes.