Funded by: BAR
Implementation Period: April 2011- April 2012 | Project Leader: Roberta N. Engle Garcia, PHD
We have collected 221 pili accessions from UPLB and Bicol and evaluated them in terms of fruit and tree morphology. Fruit (whole fruit, pulp, nut, shell, kernel) characters were evaluated for each pili accession with ‘Katutubo’ as reference variety. Four accessions were found to have higher nut weight (15.29–16.94 g) than Katutubo (13.94 g).
Ten SSR primers from Canarium album and Carica papaya were optimized for cross-amplification of SSRs in C. ovatum for varietal identification, DNA fingerprinting and genetic diversity analysis. The 10 SSR markers amplified a total of 36 alleles (3.6 alleles per marker) in the seven NSIC registered pili varieties. The average PIC of the 10 markers was 0.6115 indicating their informativeness for use in varietal identification. Unique DNA fingerprints were obtained for each of the seven pili varieties showing the capability of the markers to distinguish among varieties. The genetic diversity of 95 pili accessions from UPLB and Bicol was evaluated using five of the 10 SSR markers used in varietal identification. A total of 37 alleles were obtained with an average of 7.4 alleles per marker and an average PIC of 0.7660, indicating the markers’ capability to detect and quantify genetic diversity. Cluster and ordination analyses resulted in three major groups at 0.60 similarity coefficient with five of the seven pili varieties forming one group (Group III).
The Pili Project is a cross-listed project of PGC with the University of the Philippines Los Baños