No abstract

Successful restoration of over exploited species ( Asparagus racemosus ) depends upon variability, conservation and cultivation. Twelve elite accessions were characterized for fifteen quantitative and qualitative traits for sustainable cultivation and industrial uses. The evaluated accessions varied in morphology, herbage, root yield and shatavarin IV content. The accession DAR-7 was showing maximum herbage yield (1860 and 1850 g plant −1 ), fresh root weight (36.33 and 37.33 g plant −1 ), root girth (18.25 and 18.45 cm) and root yield (14.26 and 12.79 kg plant −1 ) in both the harvesting years. Shatavarin IV content in roots was maximum in DAR-14 (152.06 and 151.72 μg g −1 ), followed by DAR-28 (81.16 and 83.16 μg g −1 ). For economic yield accessions DAR-7, DAR-19, DAR-14, DAR-28 were found superior therefore, they may be further used in crop improvement program as valuable selection. In the cropping system they may act as a viable replacement of traditional crops viz. , cumin, gram, cotton and groundnut. Asparagus cultivated under high density plantation ensured high economic return (Rs. 4.87 l ha −1 year −1 ) with 3.66 B: C ratio, therefore, it could be considered a high returns substitute for traditional crops.

Papaya germplasm showed wide morphological diversity in terms of fruit yield, weight, length, cavity, fruiting zone, flesh thickness, flesh color, and total soluble solids content. RAPD and ISSR markers also showed polymorphisms at rates of of 84.32% and 84.67%, respectively. Jaccard's genetic similarity values of RAPD and ISSR were found in the range of 0.30-0.99 (average: 0.65) and 0.26-0.95 (average: 0.61), respectively, suggesting a moderate level of genetic diversity within the papaya group. Seven of the 15 RAPD primers and 5 of the 11 ISSR primers were also able to generate cultivar-specific amplicons, which were used for identification of germplasms Lalima, Madhu, PS-3, Farm Selection H, CO-7, and PSR-1-11. A dendrogram based on UPGMA separated all the selections into 4 main clusters, in which 3 genotypes, Lalima, Madhu, and PS-3, were found to be superior to the rest of the papaya germplasms. A two-dimensional plot generated from the principal component analysis of RAPD and ISSR data also supported the clustering pattern of the dendrogram. The present study revealed that morphological and molecular markers may be successfully utilized for determining genetic diversity and genetic relationships in papaya groups and may be used successfully in papaya breeding programs.

No abstract

No abstract