Genetic diversity in Indonesia’s local garlic accessions revealed by SSR markers

Abstract Garlic ( Allium sativum L.) is a strategic horticultural crop widely used in Indonesia as a spice due to its medicinal benefits. Understanding the genetic diversity among garlic accessions is crucial as an important basis for breeding new varieties in order to assess garlic germplasm for its practical use. This study assessed the genetic diversity of Indonesia’s local garlic accessions from several regions in Indonesia using Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers. As many as 30 garlic accessions, including 27 Indonesian local accessions and three imported garlic accessions originating from China were amplified their genomic DNA using 10 SSR markers. The 10 SSR markers generated a total of 73 alleles, with an average of 7.30 alleles per marker, an overall gene diversity of 0.80, and a polymorphism information content (PIC) average value of 0.71 (0.57-0.81). The unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) clustering analysis at the genetic similarity coefficient value of 0.57, grouped the 30 garlic accessions into two main groups based on their genetic background. Interestingly, the imported garlic demonstrated a far distance for most of the local accessions but was relatively close to very minor accessions (Palu and LPSC), indicating their uniqueness, which requires further assessment. This preliminary genetic diversity information could benefit as a basis to assist the genetic resource management and garlic breeding programs in Indonesia.