Genetic diversity in some Nigerian kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) genotypes as assessed by agro-morphological traits and seed protein markers

Abstract

Identifying and assessing genetic diversity in kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) using agromorphological markers is problematic, thus, necessitating the use of biochemical markers. Thirty five kenaf genotypes were evaluated for genetic diversity using 13 agromorphological characters and seed proteins. The field experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications; the data were subjected to Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Cluster Analysis (CA) to group the genotypes. The observed genetic diversity among the genotypes based on Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of seed proteins was presented in the form of a dendrogram generated by the UPGMA cluster analysis. The relative effectiveness of the two types of markers in assessing the diversity among the genotypes was investigated. The CA grouped the 35 genotypes into eight clusters; the PCA revealed that the first three principal components accounted for 66.60% of the total variation among the genotypes. Plant height, stalk height, internode distance, number of seeds/pod, basal stem diameter, number of pods/plant, pod length and seed yield/plant were identified as traits that best described the genotypes. The seed protein dendrogram, in addition to grouping the 35 genotypes into four major clusters, was able to identify duplicates within the population.

Keywords: Biochemical markers, principal components analysis, dendrogram, duplicates