Authors: Nwangburuka C.C., Kehinde O.B., Ojo D.K., Popoola A.R., Oduwaye O., Denton O.A., Adekoya M.
acta SATECH 4(1): 1 – 14 (2011)
Abstract
Twenty –nine okra accessions collected from different agro-ecological regions in Nigeria were raised in plastic pots. Genomic DNA from the young apical leaves of the plants were extracted and analyzed by the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique to access genetic variability in twenty-nine okra accessions. Eighty-four amplified products and 53 RAPD bands were scored with an average of 61.4% of them revealing polymorphism across accessions. Primer OPX 17 yielded the highest polymorphic band (8), with 67% polymorphism, while OPY 02 yielded 6 polymorphic bands with the highest percentage polymorphism (75%). The least number of polymorphic
bands (3) as well as least percentage polymorphism (50%) was in OPX 18. The amplification products of Okra DNA assayed with OPM 18 and OPM 16 respectively revealed outstanding band patterns among the accessions signifying genetic differences amongst them. The dendogram revealed five distinct clusters which joined to form one major cluster at 55% level of similarity. The similarity indices of the RAPD dendogram ranged between 50% and 100% averagely high enough to suggest useful variability for genetic conservation and plant breeding. The two most divergent accessions revealed by the molecular dendogram are OK 20 and Enugu-1 suggesting that the origins or sources of these accessions were quite diverse.