Intra-specific variability for salinity tolerance in Indian Mucuna pruriens L. (DC.) germplasm

Mucuna pruriens L. (DC.) is a tropical legume cover crop with important agronomic and medicinal uses. Assessment of intra-specific variability for salt tolerance can aid its introduction in salinity affected areas. This paper reports first study on germplasm screening for variability in this trait among 35 accessions evaluated using nine indicative parameters. The experiments carried out under controlled condition revealed different levels of tolerance for the selected growth (3), physiological (2), and biochemical (2) characters - of which the first two provided reliable indicators for large-scale screening. Overlaying this data with diversity estimates from the AFLP analysis revealed 19 genetically divergent (> 90%) parental combinations that are useful for breeding as well as genetic mapping of this trait. Thus, this investigation opens-up new prospects for genetic improvement of M. pruriens to resourcefully recover them for coastal agriculture.