Vegetos

Abstract

Diversity among 25 melon landraces was carried out using SDS-PAGE of seed protein extracted in Tris-Hcl buffer (0.0625N). A total of 12 seed protein bands could be resolved across the 25 genotypes of melon and were distributed in four distinct zones namely A, B, C and D. These zones were sub-divided into A₁, A₂, A₃, B₁, B₂, B₃, B₄, C₁, C₂, D₁, D₂ and D₃ sub-zones. Variation in banding pattern was observed in all these zones, based on which and the similarity in the protein banding pattern, 25 genotypes of melon were classified into 13 different groups. Group-I comprised of more number of genotypes (a total of 5). In some cases it was observed that the genotypes having contrasting morphological traits (round vs oblong fruit shape) possess similar protein profile. Like in Group-I out of 5 genotypes, only one genotype (PMM-8) had oblong fruit shape and rest were having round fruit shape. On the basis of UPGMA analysis, 25 melon genotypes were categorized into two major clusters. Cluster one comprised of 21 genotypes while cluster two comprised of 4 genotypes.