Morphological and molecular diversity of some locally grown, underutilized and cultivated Allium species from India

The genus Allium is controversial for species and subspecies sectioning because of its huge agro-morphological diversity. The study demonstrated the effectiveness of morphological descriptors for capturing intra- and interspecies variability in the Allium genus. A total of 21 qualitative and 9 quantitative characteristics were assessed on the plant habit, inflorescence, leaf, and scape of 28 Allium germplasm from 13 species. The qualitative characteristics elucidated the taxonomic relationships among species. Additionally, the dendrogram created using the unweighted pair group method with the arithmetic mean (UPGMA) of these attributes supported the basal location of species and the differences between them. A random set of 50 intron length polymorphism (ILP) markers was employed for taxanomic classification based on phylogeny at section level and also for screening polymorphism among the 13 Allium species. The species had a high level of transferability and locus conservation (20.6–96.50%). The highest cross-specific amplification recorded in Allium sativum (> 82%), followed by Allium przewalskianum and Allium macranthum, whereas Allium hookeri recorded the lowest amplification. The ILP markers exhibited an average polymorphism information content value of 0.21(range: 0.06–0.40). In this study, higher polymorphism and phylogenetic relationship among tested Allium species were noted. No correlation was observed among the cluster formation based on morphological traits and ILP markers. Further, to promote horticultural traits through breeding activities, the descriptor created based on agro-morphological traits and taxonomic classification generated through ILP markers can be successfully employed for Allium interspecific breeding research.