GENETIC DIVERSITY OF TARO (Colocasia spp.) FROM KALIMANTAN ISLAND, BORNEO, INDONESIA, BASED ON RAPD MARKERS

Abstract

SUMMARY Taro (Colocasia esculenta L. Schott) is a tropical plant that is grown primarily for its edible corms, which are root vegetables that are commonly known as talas, kalo, dasheen, and godere. It is widely spread and cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions, including Kalimantan Island, Indonesia. Taro is considered to be one of the oldest cultivated plants in this region and has the highest level of polymorphism. Genetic diversity in crop plants is needed to assemble germplasm for tolerance and further development against biotic and abiotic stresses. Random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) is one of the molecular methods that can be used to identify and describe genetic diversity of taro. The present research aimed to determine genetic diversity of taro accessions on the basis of RAPD molecular markers. A total of 67 taro accessions were evaluated by using 12 RAPD primers during 2016–17 at the Department of Biology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. Coefficient analysis based on Gower general similarity and cluster analysis were also conducted through the unweighted pair group method (UPGMA) by using MVSP version 3.1 software. Results revealed that the RAPD profiles had 105 amplified fragments with 97% polymorphism. The total fragment numbers comprised 102 with polymorphic banding patterns and three with monomorphic banding patterns. The most varied and polymorphic band was OPH-1, which had 17 banding patterns. RAPD was concluded to be capable of differentiating C. esculenta and Colocasia affinis on the basis of banding patterns. Specific bands for primers OPH-1, OPB-5, OPB-7, and OPA-17 were observed to separate C. affinis landraces from the accessions of other taro species that were assumed to be hybrids. The dendrogram based on UPGMA analysis showed that taro accessions from Kalimantan Island grouped into two major clusters, i.e., cluster I with one accession and cluster II with 66 accessions.