Microsatellite gene diversity within Philippines dwarf coconut palm (Cocos nucifera L.) resources at Port- Bouët, Côte d'Ivoire

Description and assessment of genetic resources are common preoccupations for their better management and utilization in breeding program. Progress made to date is still limited in view of assessment of coconut resources in the International Coconut Genebank for Africa and Indian Ocean (ICG-AIO) at Marc Delorme Port-bouet experimental station in Cote d’Ivoire. Using twelve microsatellite markers, we analyzed genetic diversity and genetic relationship among 25 palms representing five Philippines coconut green dwarf accessions. The 12 primers yielded 40 alleles, with an average of 3.33 alleles per primer. The within-accession genetic diversity (He) ranged from 0.067 ± 0.159 to 0.325 ± 0.205. In spite of the low level of polymorphism observed at microsatellite loci, factorial analysis of correspondence and hierarchical cluster analysis showed a clear distinction of aromatic green dwarf accession from others Philippines green dwarf accessions, which were not clearly separated. Indeed, there is no apparent partition between Kinabalan green dwarf and Catigan green dwarf individuals and between Pilipog green dwarf and Tacunan green dwarf accessions. Nevertheless, genetic differentiation indices ranged from 0.165 to 0.47 were obtained between these last accessions. The opportunity to consider these accessions as distinct each other relatively to their low genetic differentiation indices was discussed.