Morpho-taxonomical and molecular assessment of Musa genotypes from north-east India by morphological and inter-retrotransposon amplified polymorphism markers

The states of north-eastern region of India are home to several wild and cultivated bananas. There is a dearth of information on the genetic diversity of Musa resources of the region to assist in crop improvement programmes. Twenty-five genotypes of Musaceae accessions including one Ensete species maintained at Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Imphal, were characterized based on 60 morpho-taxonomic characters and seven inter-retrotransposon amplified polymorphism (IRAP) primer combinations. The morphological data were presented in the form of hierarchical clusters and principal components. Hierarchically, the Musa genotypes can be grouped into distinctive clusters, and while the first four principal components could explain 58.66 % of variation of the total morphological traits studied. A total of 337 amplicons were generated using 12 IRAP primer combinations with an average percentage polymorphism of 96.12. The molecular markers used in this study could reveal intra- and inter-group diversity among the genotypes with similarity coefficients ranging from 0.16 to 0.90. It could also differentiate the clusters of all the edible cultivated Musa genotypes from the wild/semi-wild ancestors. Thus, the chosen parameters seem to be especially important in the varietal or genotype identifications.