Assessment of sex specific relationship among nine Dioscorea species found in Tripura by using morphometric and micro morphometric markers

Present study deals the assessment of inter and intra specific relationship among nine Dioscorea species by using morphological and micro-morphological markers. To fabricate the relationship among the Dioscorea species 37 micro-morphometric traits were adopted. Wild Dioscorea tuber is a potential substitute food supplement offering the seasonal food security to the indigenous forest dwellers of Tripura. In nature, Dioscorea species exhibit high morphological variation. In spite of enormous information available regarding the interspecific relationship in dioecious Dioscorea species meager information are existing with respect to sexes. PCA analysis revealed that two vital components account for 58.21% of total variation among the traits. PCA I was strongly associated ( r > 0.5) with fourteen morphological traits. The first seven PCs have Eigen value greater than 1 together explain 95.17% of the total variance. The results of cluster analysis and dendrogram developed initially produce four main groups at level 7.31. The results obtained may contribute to effective conservation and improvement practices of Dioscorea with good agronomical traits which may be attributable with the utilization of Dioscorea genetic resources.