Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Thamnocalamus falconeri Hook f. ex. Munro

Abstract The economy of India and so also of many Asian countries depends on bamboos and their uses are not only in domestic items but also in rural housing and raw materials to several industries and germplasm characterization is an important link between the conservation and utilization of plant genetic resources. Classical taxonomic studies of the bamboos are based on floral morphology and growth habit, which can cause problems in identification due to erratic flowering coupled with different biotic agencies and environmental factors. Identification and genetic relationships among accessions of Thamnocalamus falconeri were investigated using morphology and random amplified polymorphic DNAs (RAPD) technique. Analysis started by using 51 vegetative characters and forty two 10-mer primers that allowed us to distinguish different genotypes hailing from different eco- zones of Garhwal Himalayas (India). The selected primers (12) were used for identification and for establishing a profiling system to estimate genetic diversity. A total of 79.33% polymorphism was estimated by using 12 selected primers. The genetic similar analysis was conducted based on binary digits i.e. presence (1) or absence (0) of bands, which revealed a wide range of variability among the species whereas genetic relatedness was quite high based on vegetative characters. Cluster analysis clearly showed two major clusters for both of the markers viz. morphology and RAPD belonging to 10 accessions of T. falconeri. Two major clusters were further divided into minor clusters. Cluster based on RAPD marker showed grouping of accessions of closed locality whereas analogy was reported for vegetative traits. The RAPD technique has the potential for use in species identification and genetic relationships studies of bamboo for breeding program.Key Words: hill bamboo, genetic variability, polymorphism, RAPD analysis, Thamnocalamus falconeri