GENETIC DIVERSITY ANALYSIS OF FICUS RACEMOSA USING ISSR MARKERS FROM THREE LANDSCAPE ELEMENTS OF DRY DECIDUOUS FOREST BELTS IN KODAGU, KARNATAKA, INDIA

V. MAHESWARAPPA¹*, R. VASUDEVA², R. HEGDE³, G. RAVIKANTH⁴, K.V. POWNITHA^5
1College of Forestry, Ponnampet, South Coorg, 571216, University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Shimoga, 577201, Karnataka, India
²Professor, College of Forestry, Sirsi, 581401, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, 580005, Karnataka, India
³Professor and Head, College of Forestry, Ponnampet, South Coorg, 571216, University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Shimoga, 577201, Karnataka, India
⁴Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bengaluru, 560064, Karnataka, India
⁵Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bengaluru, 560064, Karnataka, India
* Corresponding Author : cv_mahesh@rediffmail.com

Received : 02-08-2020     Accepted : 26-08-2020     Published : 30-08-2020
Volume : 12     Issue : 8       Pages : 768 - 772
Genetics 12.8 (2020):768-772

Keywords : Circa situm, Conservation, Ficus racemosa, Genetic diversity, Landscape
Academic Editor : Dr Manjusha Damodar Hivre
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Authors are thankful to coffee planters and Karnataka Forest Department, India. Authors are also thankful to College of Forestry, Ponnampet, South Coorg, 571216, University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Shimoga, 577201, Karnataka, India
Author Contribution : All authors equally contributed

Genetic estimation of population sizes has been critical for monitoring Ficus species. However, population estimates do not inherently reveal the permanence or stability of the population under study. Thus, it is important to monitor not only the number of individuals in a population, but also how they are associated in groups and how those groups are distributed across the landscape. The additional challenge was to estimate the genetic diversity exists in Ficus racemosa individuals from natural forests, sacred groves and coffee plantations of Kodagu, Karnataka. The leaf samples were collected from each landscape and analysed for its genetic diversity as per standard procedure. The diversity computed based Nei's formulae and Shannon's information index showed consistent results. Natural populations recorded higher diversity (0.2948 and 0.4456, respectively) and comparable diversity was observed in sacred groves and coffee plantations population (0.2049 and 0.3110: 0.2352 and 0.3583, respectively). The relative differentiation among sub populations (GST) value for Ficus racemosa populations was 0.5272 and the variation for the total population was 0.3052 growing in different landscape elements of dry deciduous forest belts. Whereas, the variation into the diversity among subpopulation within a zone was low (0.3196). Analysis of Molecular Variance which indicated that within the population had higher genetic variability (97%) and only 3% of the total variation was portioned between population among different landscape element. The genetic diversity exists in natural population and sacred groves help in capturing the genes for further conservation of the species and establishing Circa situm forest gene bank in coffee plantations