Abstract:
In vitro raised cormels of 3.0 to 4.0 mm diameter of 3 commercial grown varieties of gladiolus viz.
Traderhorn, White Friendship and Peter Pears were used to assess percentage of clonal fidelity with each other
and with mother cormels using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and Inter Simple Sequence
Repeat (ISSR) markers. In order to regenerate cormels under In vitro conditions, direct organogenesis was
followed using cormel sprout as an explant. Cormel sprouts obtained by culturing the whole cormels (0.6 g) in a
polar position on MS medium supplemented with BAP (4 mg L-1). Out of the three varieties, White friendship
obtained more number of shoots (22.07). However, statistically similar number of roots was recorded in White
Friendship (22.67) and Peter Pears (19.60) when MS supplemented with IBA (2 mg L-1). Cormel production
was not affected by any variety of the gladiolus using MS medium supplemented with IBA (1 mg L-1) and
sucrose (7%). The In vitro produced cormels were assessed for their clonal fidelity using RAPD and ISSR
markers. The RAPD similarity tendencies among In vitro propagated cormels ranged from 80% to 95% in
Traderhorn, 88% to 95% in White Friendship and 80% to 90% in Peter Pears. However the similarity
tendencies between mother and In vitro propagated cormels, on average were 86% in Traderhorn, 92% in White
Friendship and 83% in Peter Pears. In comparison, ISSR primers produced higher percentage of similarity
matrix than RAPD. The ISSR cluster analysis for genetic similarity between mother and In vitro propagated
cormels had varied degree of differences detected 90% in Traderhorn, 96% in White Friendship and 85% in
Peter Pears. The genetic differences among In vitro propagated cormels ranged from 88 to 100% in
Traderhorn, 94 to 100% in White Friendship and 82 to 100% in Peter Pears.
