Genetic Diversity of Indonesian Snake Fruits as Food Diversification Resources

Abstract

Indonesia is one of the megabiodivesity, which is rich with germplasms including tropical fruit. Snake fruit (Salacca spp.) is a native fruit of Indonesia with a scaly peel and sweet-tart taste. The genetic diversity of 17 accessions of Indonesian snake fruit was resolved using the Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Polymerase Chain Reaction with 5 primers. The study demonstrated that the samples were grouped in six different clusters with coefficient of similarity ranged from 0.12 to 0.71. The value indicated the wide range of genetic variability among the tested plants. This variability was an important resources for the snake fruit breeding program in developing the consumer‘s preferred product which by the end supports the plant diversification program.