Variability in the accessions from aravali range assessed for domestication of the Cleomaceae biodiesel plant Cleome viscosa Linn

Abstract

In an earlier study at our laboratory showed that the biodiesel derived from the seed oil of the annual herbaceous medicinal weed plant Cleome viscosa Linn. possesses properties similar to the commercial biodiesel produced from Jatropha seed oil. Here, the possibilities of domestication of C. viscosa were examined. With this objective, 15 accessions from Aravali range in North-West India and two from North-East India were evaluated for phenotypic and genetic variability. The accessions were cultivated in four seasons from May to November 2009 at New Delhi by growing them in randomized block design replicated four times. The accessions were studied for 6 qualitative and 13 agronomic characters and significant genetic variability in all the agronomic traits was observed. On the basis of morphological features, the accessions fell into two groups: a small leaved group and a large leaved group. While the small leaved group comprised of accessions from Rajasthan, the large leaved group included accessions from different locations in North-west and North-East India. One of the small leaved accessions called CVR14 was identified as a putative high yielding accession. The July-October (or monsoon-autumn) season of about 13-15 weeks was observed to be the most suitable period for obtaining rainfed crop of C. viscosa CVR14. The DNA fingerprinting based analysis of hierarchical relationships between accessions demonstrated that large leaved and small leaved accessions were inter-related. The results indicated that C. viscosa accessions from diverse locations perhaps comprised a single complex.