Assessment of genetic diversity among arecanut accessions by using RAPD markers

The RAPD markers were used to analyze genetic diversity and genetic relationship among 10 arecanut varieties. Out of 30 primers tested, only 11 primers amplified. The highest number of bands was obtained with primer OPH-48 (48) followed by OPH-8 (47) and OPH-46 (46), while minimum number of band was generated with OPH-41 (39). The maximum number of bands per marker per genotype was obtained from OPH-35 (4.8) followed by OPH-8(4.7) and OPH-46 (4.6) and OPH-42 (4.5). The highest PIC value was obtained (0.60) with OPH-35 followed by OPF-10 (0.44), whereas, the lowest PIC value was obtained in (0.17) with OPH-41 primer. The dendrogram showed high variability between the wild and cultivated arecanut varieties.