Journal of Applied Horticulture. 2005: 7(2): 79-82

Resolving the identity of Adhatoda beddomei C.B. Clarke using morphological and molecular (RAPD) techniques

Sunitha Bhaskaran; Ganeshan, S; Krishnappa, M; Lalitha, A

Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta Lake, Bangalore - 560 089, India.

Cuttings of Adhatoda beddomei were collected from Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, India, while A. vasica [Justicia adhatoda] was collected from Bangalore, Karnataka. Morphological characterization was conducted for 25 qualitative and 20 quantitative traits. The 3 A. beddomei accessions showed similar growth patterns while A. vasica showed significant difference in morphological characters. Among the quantitative traits, there was a tendency among the 3 A. beddomei accessions to be at par while A. vasica showed distinct dissimilarity. All the 25 qualitative traits observed showed similarity in A. beddomei accessions. In A. vasica, 19 traits were similar to that of A. beddomei while 6 differed. In A. beddomei, there was no incidence of fruit set inspite of considerable inflorescence development. Good quality DNA was obtained from all the 4 accessions based on the A260/A280 ratio obtained. Yield was similar in all the lines, i.e. ranging from 0.67 to 2.33 micro g/mg of DNA was obtained. The banding pattern of PCR products revealed greater monomorphism between the 3 A. beddomei accessions. There was a distinct similarity between the A. beddomei accessions while the pattern of A. vasica was different. The dendogram constructed using squared Euclidean distances further showed A. beddomei accessions to be different from A. vasica.