Jute is an important fibre crop that has dominated the packaging sector for over one and a half centuries in India. For sustenance of the trade in the face of tough competition from synthetics, there is an urgent need to redesign the ongoing breeding strategy to improve both the yield and quality of jute fibre. It is therefore, essential to understand the pattern of diversity in this important commercial crop species. In the present study, genetic diversity analysis of 20 exotic germplasm lines and 20 commercial varieties of the two cultivated species (Corchorus olitorius and C. capsularis) and two wild relatives of jute (C. aestuans and C. trilocularis) was carried out using sequence tagged microsatellite site (STMS), inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. The first set of six STMS markers developed from the genomic sequence of C. olitorius was not fully transferable to the related species C. capsularis. The level of intraspecific polymorphism revealed by these markers was very low. The four ISSR and 22 RAPD primers employed in the study revealed 98.44% and 100% polymorphism, respectively, across all the species, while the level of polymorphism was significantly low within a species. The commercial varieties, particularly those of C. capsularis, had an extremely narrow genetic base that demands immediate effort for diversification. The germplasm accessions in both the cultivated species showed considerably higher levels of diversity and thus should be used in broadening the base of the varieties. All the accessions of C. olitorius together with the wild species C. aestuans clustered separately from those of C. capsularis and C. trilocularis, suggesting a polyphyletic origin of the two cultivated species.

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Abstract. The association of a begomovirus, which has satellite DNA β, with leaf curl disease of kenaf has been detected for the first time.Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) is a potentially valuable industrial crop due to its fibre content, medicinal value and effective use in the paper industry (Duke 1983). The USDA recognises kenaf as the best non-woody papermaking plant. The crop is attacked by several viral diseases

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