GENETIC DIVERSITY OF OKRA (ABELMOSCHUS ESCULENTUS L.) GENOTYPES FROM DIFFERENT AGRO-ECOLOGICAL REGIONS REVEALED BY AMPLIFIED FRAGMENT LENGTH POLYMORPHISM ANALYSIS

This study was carried out to assess the genetic diversity in 48 genotypes and accessions using eight Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) primer-pairs. The eight selected AFLP primer-pairs generated a total of 150 polymorphic loci. Using the generated AFLP data, the Un-Weighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Average (UPGMA) ordered the genotypes into six groups based on Dice similarity coefficient. The range in taxonomic distance was from 0.23 to 1.0. Each cluster was found to have genotypes and accessions from different regions and climate and sometimes different continents. The size range of the loci ranged from 87-662 bp. Great variation between the genotypes and accessions in the different cluster could be of high value as the genetically diverse okra genotypes represent a potentially valuable source for improved pathogen and pest resistance.