ESTIMATION OF MOLECULAR AND GENETIC VARIABILITY IN PERILLA SPECIES IN UTTARAKHAND USING MOLECULAR MARKERS

Abstract

Perilla is coming up as promising crop under rainfed condition of Uttarakhand hill region. It has strong potential to become a more profitable cash crop in near future, but there is need to develop proper management practices to ensure good production of seed and oil. Seed samples of Perilla frutescens var. frutescens were collected from 12 distant location of Uttarakhand Himalaya . The morphological analysis and phytochemical analysis including total phenolic content and the antioxidant activity was determined using in vitro methods such as ABTS radical scavenging activity assay, the DPPH free radical scavenging activity and FRAP method. The quantification of essential oil and fatty oil was quantified using Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry. The genetic diversity analysis was analyzed using ISSR markers. Total phenolic content was recorded significantly higher in leaves and seeds of Tapovan population and lower in Magroli population. Antioxidant activity analysis using three different in vitro assays revealed highest activity in the samples collected from Tapovan, Takula and Forti populations, thereby suggesting it as an elite natural source for antioxidant activity in the region. Analysis of seed revealed maximum antioxidant activity in populations of Tapovan, Chamoli .Seeds of Forti, Champawat showed maximum antioxidant activity. Analysis of seed fatty oil revealed maximum linoleic acid and alpha linolenic acid in populations of Dharchula,Takula and Gaidgaoun.The results suggests that the above populations can be used as a natural vegetarian source of essential fatty acids which are needed by human body. Genetic diversity analysis using ISSR markers exhibited very narrow level of genetic diversity in studied populations of P.frutescens. Out of 159 clear and reproducible bands, ranging from 290 to 1600 bp in size, 142 polymorphic loci were detected using eleven selected ISSR primers. With a mean of 78.62, the percentage of polymorphic loci ranged from 22.22 to 78.88. newline