ABSTRACT:
Medicinal plants are a major source of raw material for the traditional systems like Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani. Buchnania lanzan is commonly called 'Chironji "Char" of family anacardiaceae. It was first described by Francis Hamilton in 1798. It is an economically important forest tree species in central India and has great medicinal value. The seeds are edible & rich in oil having sweetish acid flavor and used as expectorant, cardio tonic and astringent properties The seeds are also used in the treatment of skin diseases. Chironji seed oil is also used as substitute for almond oil. Present study aims at seed morphology and genetic diversity analysis of Buchnania lanzan from five different locations. Location variations in seed morphological traits in terms qualitative and five quantitative traits Seed color, Seed Shape 100 seed weight, Seed size, % of Germination, % of Purity and %Moisture were examined. The genetic analyses were performed using DNA markers using RAPD primers. The results showed that seed morphology had significant variation among locations. Variability was observed for all measured trait. Among all the genotypes collected genotypes from Bastar plateau stand out from rest of the genotypes. Five RAPD primers generated highly reproducible and stable DNA fragments. The lowest genetic distance is suggestive of their close relatedness, whereas two genotypes were found to be most divergent, since they have exhibited the highest genetic distance. The result indicates that the seed morphology and genetic diversity among genotypes showed some differentiation. The analysis of genetic relationships in Chironji using morphological traits and RAPD banding data can be useful for plant improvement, descriptions of new varieties and also for assessment of variety purity in plant certification programmes.