The Assessment of Morphological Diversity of Colchicum luteum L., an Economically Important Threatened Medicinal Plant of Kashmir Himalaya

Rauoof Ahmad Rather, Haleema Bano, Ahmad Firoz, Hani Mohammed Ali, M. Ashraf Bhat, Shahid Ahmad Padder, Huda Nafees and Khalid Rehman Hakeem
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Rauoof Ahmad Rather: Division of Environmental Sciences, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Srinagar 190025, Jammu & Kashmir, India
Haleema Bano: Division of Environmental Sciences, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Srinagar 190025, Jammu & Kashmir, India
Ahmad Firoz: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Hani Mohammed Ali: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
M. Ashraf Bhat: Division of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Wadura, Kashmir 193201, Jammu & Kashmir, India
Shahid Ahmad Padder: Division of Basic Sciences & Humanities, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Srinagar 190025, Jammu & Kashmir, India
Huda Nafees: Department of Saidla, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 21589, Uttar Pradesh, India
Khalid Rehman Hakeem: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-12

Abstract: Colchicum luteum L. is an economically important and endangered medicinal plant of the Kashmir Himalaya. The corm extract is used for the treatment of rheumatism, gout, Behcet’s syndrome, and Alzheimer disease. It is also used extensively in plant breeding programs for the doubling of chromosomes. The present study was carried out for two years (2017–2019) to study the genetic diversity of C. luteum , an economically important and endangered medicinal plant of Kashmir Himalaya. The mapping of genetic diversity of C. luteum was estimated using Mahalanobis D 2 analysis in the Aharbal (Kulgam), Dhara (Theed), and Baera Baal Hills (Harwan) of Kashmir Valley. The results showed the presence of 5 clusters for 30 populations. There were 17 populations in cluster-1, 1 in cluster-2, 2 in cluster-3, 3 in cluster-4, and 7 in cluster-5. The majority of the population was a group in cluster-1 followed by cluster-5. The maximum intracluster distance (D 2 values) was observed in cluster-5 (46.55588) followed by cluster-3 (41.61871), and the maximum inter-cluster distance (D 2 values) was observed in cluster-3 (46.55588) followed by cluster-5 (41.61871). Our study revealed that plant species possessed sufficient genetic diversity among the populations. Cluster-5 showed superiority in plant −1 respect of the maximum mean plant height (28.46 cm), leaf area (47.0 cm 2 ), number of seeds plant −1 (26.85), corm length (5.15 cm), corm width (3.17 cm), fresh weight of corm plant (6.87 g), and dry weight of corm plant (4.81 g) as compared to other clusters. Out of five clusters, cluster-5 is a promising one for better yield and yield attributing traits. The present study revealed that plant species possessed sufficient genetic diversity among the populations as 30 populations were arranged into 5 clusters. Therefore, cluster-5, consisting of seven populations from the undisturbed area of Harwan, and consequently the populations from the same cluster can be multiplied for initiating a conservation and breeding program and can serve as a tool for the scientific community to evolve better contemporary varieties of C. luteum with profitable characters such as more yield of corms, etc. This will assist farmers, particularly the marginal farmers, to alleviate their income.

Keywords: Colchicum luteum; genetic diversity; cluster distance; D 2 analysis; medicinal plant; endangered plants (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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