X-ray Induced Genetic Variability in <i>Amaranthus hybridus</i> L. and Analysis of Variants Using Morphological and Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Data

Abstract

Amaranthus hybridus L. is an important vegetable in Nigeria, grown mainly for its highly nutritious leaves. In a bid to explore the possibility of increasing the infra-specific diversity of the crop, we induced three accessions of A. hybridus from Anambra State, Nigeria with x-ray particles using various concentration levels. The experimental layout composed a 5 x 3 x 3 Randomized Complete Block Design arrangement, with treatment levels: 1 MGY, 2 MGY, 4 MGY, and 6 MGY, selectively allotted to the different accession based on a preliminary dosimetry test. Morphological data were recorded and subsequently leaves samples subjected to Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) extraction and Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. The results show that except for inflorescence weight, other morphological data were not statistically significant. However, RAPD techniques identify some variations induced by x-ray particles on the different accessions. Ogbunike accession irradiated with 4 MGY appears to show the optimum concentration of x-ray particles required to induce genetic variability in A. hybridus. These findings are of paramount importance to plant breeders, whose primary tool is to identify variations to produce better yielding varieties.

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“…Amaranth became rediscovered and is intensively studied through the molecular based polymorphism analysis (Pandey et al, 2019). In many studies (Lee et al, 2008;Ray & Roy, 2009;Solano & Porfirio, 2010;Lymanskaya, 2012;Nwankwo et al, 2019), the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) marker like other molecular markers has been successfully used for genetic diversity evaluation and phylogenetic relationships studies between Amaranthus species. Then, molecular analysis have helped resolve the distinctness in the genetic makeup of crop plants when morphological investigations have failed (Transue et al, 1994;Guillermo et al, 2014;Nwankwo et al, 2019).…”

“…Comparatively to the costly and temporary solutions such as diminishing the salt rate in the soil through amendment and in irrigation water or washing salt through a good drainage as Dasgan et al (2002) remarked, creating saline tolerant varieties with, at least, the same agronomic traits of interest turns out to be the more economical way to reduce the harmful salinity effect on cultures (Poustini & Siosemardeh, 2004). Genetic variability in plants is caused by diverse factors such as: mutation, random mating and recombination between homologous chromosomes during meiosis (Schreiber et al, 2018;Nwankwo et al, 2019). In amaranth, mutation breeding has been effectively used for cultivar development and generating polygenic variability (Joshi et al, 2018).…”

“…In amaranth, mutation breeding has been effectively used for cultivar development and generating polygenic variability (Joshi et al, 2018). Using Gamma rays, Gomez-Pando (2014) mutated, in a study, Amaranthus caudatus L. and successfully obtained semidwarf and dwarf stature, non-branching pattern, improved protein content and pigment mutations (color of plants and grains) (Nwankwo et al, 2019). Amaranth species were analyzed to determine genetic diversity among and within them, to obtain the corresponding genetic fingerprints, and to carry out comparisons for differentiating and distinguishing between the genetic variants (Pandey et al, 2019).…”

Assessment of the Potentials of Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) as Raw Material for Biofertilizer

“…Electrophoresis was done at 80V for 2 hours. The integrity of the DNA was visualized and photographed on a UV light source [27,28].…”