Genetic Variations of Amorphophallus Variabilis Blume (Araceae) in Java Using AFLP

Amorphophallus variabilis Blume, a member of Araceae, is a native tuber crop in Java, Madura and Kangean Islands,Indonesia. The plant showed high variations in morphology. However, genetic variations at molecular level have not beenwell studied. Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) was carried out using 8 primers combination of EcoRI andMseI on 78 accessions collected from 28 sites in Java, Indonesia. Results showed that AFLP markers able to generatepolymorphism among accessions. A total of 220 polymorphisms were found. The differences among accessions at the geneticlevel were high, and 5 clusters were constructed. Grouping was independent of geographical origin, similar to clustering ofmorphological characteristic of flowers as in the previous report. Accessions from one site composed of one to four differentcluster groups, showed that variation in single site was observed. Regarding conservation program of the A. variabilis innatural population, it is reasonable to protect one bigger site rather than many small sites, but it should be recommended tomaintain conservation areas in several districts. Further study on population structure should be carried out to explain suchvariability