Diversity in snake gourd (Trichosanthes anguina L.) genotypes based on morphological traits and EST-SSR markers

A study was conducted to assess both the morphological and molecular diversity of thirty-two snake gourd genotypes. Mahalanobis D2 analysis were used to group the genotypes into four major clusters. Out of four clusters, cluster I was the largest, comprising seventeen genotypes followed by cluster II with ten genotypes, cluster III with four genotypes and cluster IV with only one genotype, suggesting the existence of divergence. The highest inter-cluster distance was found in clusters III and IV followed by clusters I and III. Genetic divergence using Expressed Sequence Tags derived Simple Sequence Repeats (EST-SSR) markers revealed that, a high level of genetic diversity was recorded with a total of 21 alleles with a mean of 2.33 alleles per locus. Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) varied from 0.94 to 0.97 with an average of 0.96. The polymorphic EST-SSR markers could be useful in genetic fingerprinting and association analysis of yield and yield-related characters in snake gourd. The complexity of the genetic makeup of snake gourd, coupled with the limited availability of genetic resources for this crop, made accurate assessment of a demanding task. However, despite these challenges, the study yielded insightful results. The findings of this study provide valuable information on genetic structure of snake gourd population and offering a foundation for future breeding programs aimed at enhancing yield and yield attributing traits.