Molecular Characterization of Fluted Pumpkin Landraces in South East Nigeria

The fluted pumpkin Telfairia occidentalis (Hook F.) is a very important vegetable, popularly cultivated in South Eastern Nigeria for its economic value and its role in nutrition. It exhibits a high degree of interspecies variability and as such enhances biodiversity. Twenty landraces of fluted pumpkin were collected from five States in southern Nigeria which include; Anambra, Ogun, Lagos, Ondo and Enugu State. The landraces were grown in the Botanical Garden of Lagos State University, Ojo during the rainy season of 2013 for phenotypic screening to determine genetic divergence. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications. Genetic characterization was conducted in the biotech lab of the national institute of medical research (NIMER). The genomic DNA was extracted from the samples and extracted DNA samples were amplified through the PCR techniques using four primers (RAPD – 01, OPR-02, OPC – 04 and SCAR-1 primer) to access diversity among the genotypes. The result reveals a huge genetic divergence among the genotypes studied. The genotypes were grouped into five clusters based on a 2.0(20%) level of similarity by single linkage cluster analysis, which agrees with morphological data, each containing fluted pumpkin genotypes sharing common properties and being similar to one another.