GENETIC VARIABILITY OF ARROWROOT (Maranta arundinacea L.) IN YOGYAKARTA PROVINCE, INDONESIA BASED ON ISSR ANALYSIS

The cultivation of arrowroot (Maranta amndinacea L.) in Indonesia, particularly in Yogyakarta Province has a great potential to be developed. This study aimed to determine genetic variability and analyze the intraspecific relations of arrowroot using Inter Simple Sequence Repeats (ISSR) markers to be used as basic information in considering characters selection of arrowroot cultivation in Yogyakarta. Exploratory survey method was conducted in Gunungkidul, Iculon Progo, Sleman, and Bantu1 Districts to collect cultivar accessions. Accessions were replanted in Sawitsari Research Station. DNA isolation from the leaves of 7-month-old accessions was carried out using CTAB buffer solution. The DNA fingerprinting analysis was carried out using the result of DNA amplification with 4 ISSR markers. The polymorphism data were then used for phenetic analysis using UPGMA algorithm and Baroni-Urbani Busser similarity coefficient to form a dendrogram. A total of 5 local cultivars were found, identified as 'Sili', 'Sembowo', 'Sugo', 'Kebo', and 'Teropong'. Each cultivar showed distinct rhizome morphological characteristics. The ISSR-PCR analysis resulted in high polymorphism with a 68.17% polymorphism mean. The mean of polymorphic band was 6.75. The dendrogram was developed based on the analyses and consisted of 4 clusters with 80% similarity index. Cluster A, B.I. and B.1I.b consisted of 'Sili', 'Teropong', and 'Kebo' cultivars, respectively, while cluster B.1I.a gathered 'Sugo' and 'Sembowo' cultivars.