STUDY ON GENETIC VARIATION OF KELEMBAK (Rheum officinale Baill.) USING RAPD MOLECULAR MARKERS IN CENTRAL JAVA, INDONESIA

Abstract

Kelembak (Rheum officinale Baill.) is native to mainland Central China and is reported as an endangered medicinal plant. This plant in Indonesia is distributed in mountainous areas; the center of rhubarb cultivation is in the Dieng Plateau. Mainly, this plant is grown for the roots as herbal medicine material (kelembak jamu) and in the industry for cigarette ingredients (kelembak Jawa). This study aimed to assess the genetic diversity of nine accessions of R. officinale. Six selected RAPD primers were used to amplify the samples and produced 33 DNA fragments ranging from 270-2,710 bp. The genetic similarity ranged from 74.58% to 100% using the Dice similarity index. The dendrogram divided R. officinale into two main clusters separated between kelembak jamu and kelembak jawa. Cluster analysis revealed that Mangli accession (kelembak jamu) had a closer similarity to kelembak Jawa. The narrow genetic diversity of kelembak is essential information for future conservation and management programs in the cultivation of this species.