Genetic diversity analysis using molecular marker in Terminalia chebula

Terminalia chebula is an important medicinal plant, extensively used in Ayurveda, Unani and Homoeopathic medicines. The present study was aimed to reveal its genetic diversity based on molecular markers from twelve T. chebula accessions. Molecular diversity was studied using RAPD markers. A total of 8 polymorphic primers produced 314 polymorphic bands and 195 monomorphic bands. Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean (UPMGA) dendrogram divided the accessions into 2 major clusters. Accession IIHRTc2 and IIHRTc10 showed maximum genetic diversity with 55% similarity. This characterization based on molecular markers will help in identification of economically useful accessions for further crop improvement programme