PREETI SHARMA, SUMITA KACHHWAHA AND S. L. KOTHARI*
Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Rajasthan, Jaipur-300 202 (Rajasthan), India
*(e-mail: slkothari@jpr.amity.edu; Mobile:98291 79692)
(Received: November 3, 2023; Accepted: December, 8, 2023)
ABSTRACT
The present study was aimed at studying the variations in morphological and biochemical properties of Moringa oleifera Lam. plants growing in different agro-climatic regions of Rajasthan, India. Morphological variations were recorded among all accessions, and none of the traits was region or zone-specific. Irrespective of the agro-climatic zones, brown to dark brown coloured bark with rough texture and narrow spread canopy were most common. Maximum number of main branches (2.2) and sub-branches (9.6) was recorded in accessions of Alwar and Jaipur, respectively. However, no such pattern was recorded for canopy density and leaf size. These findings present first report on comprehensive diversity profiling of M. oleifera Lam. at phenotypic and biochemical levels. The highest iron (Fe) content (0.9 ± 0.004 mg/ g) was found in accessions from Udaipur, followed by Kota, Alwar and Jaipur. This study marks the first comprehensive report on the iron content profiling of M. oleifera. These findings provide a foundation for further exploration into the impact of climatic conditions on the plants biochemical characteristics. Moreover, this information can be utilized for the identification of varieties exhibiting enhanced Fe yield capacity.
Key words : Sehjan, Moringa oleifera, Fe content, AAS, morphological diversity