Genetic diversity amongst landraces of a dioecious vegetatively propagated plant, betelvine (Piper betle L.).

Betelvine (Piper betle L., family Piperaceae) is an important, traditional and widely cultivated crop of India. The cultivators and consumers recognize more than 100 cultivars (landraces) based on regional and organoleptic considerations, while in terms of phytochemical constituents only five groups have been identified for all the landraces. Since betelvine is an obligate vegetatively propagated species, genomic changes, if any, may have become 'fixed' in the landraces. We carried out random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis in several landraces considered in four groups, namely, 'Kapoori', 'Bangla', 'Sanchi' and 'Others' in order to ascertain their genetic diversity. On the basis of the data from eleven RAPD primers, we distinguished genetic variation within and among the four groups of landraces. The results indicate the 'Kapoori' group is the most diverse. The neighbour joining (NJ) tree after a bootstrap (500 replicate) test of robustness clearly shows the four groups to be well separated. Interestingly, all known male or female betelvine landraces have separated in the NJ tree indicating an apparent gender-based distinction among the betelvines.