Genetic Diversity of Porang Genotypes in South Sulawesi Based on RAPD Molecular Markers

The genetic diversity of the Porang plant (Amorphophallus muelleri Blume) is currently the object of study to see the glucomannan content due to the high demand to be used as an additive that can thicken liquid elements in food ingredients. Some agroforestry areas in South Sulawesi are known to have various types of porang species with different glucomannan content. It is known that porang distribution areas are found in three districts, namely Maros Regency, Bulukumba Regency and Bantaeng Regency. This study refers to the sampling of the three locations and laboratory analysis at the Molecular Biology Laboratory of the Center for Research and Development of Biotechnology and Agricultural Genetic Resources, Bogor, West Java. The research took place from April to June 2023. The test method used was genetic-based with quantitative and qualitative DNA testing, analyzed by the Numerical Taxonomy and Multivariate Analysis System (NTSYS) with the Sequential, Agglomerative, Hierarchical, and Nested Clustering (SAHN) method. A measure of the degree of genetic similarity distance of porang plants is determined based on the similarity coefficient using the Group Average Clustering method. The data results show a phylogenetic tree that forms five clusters based on 10 RAPD molecular markers based on the similarity coefficient value is 0.61. Based on the result, the closest porang plant relationship is MR3, BL3, BT3, MR4, BL4, BT4, MR5, BT5, BL6, BT6, and BL9, then BL8, and BT8. Furthermore, it’s important to continue this research to obtain morphological and physiological characters of porang plants in these three districts