Abstract:
Mango was introduced to the Caribbean in the XVIIIth century and became a popular garden tree. A regional programme for the inventory and conservation of fruit genetic resources undertaken in the French West Indies allowed the collection of 128 land races of mango in the Guadeloupe archipelago and in Martinique. Labelled accessions were selected according to local names, location and morphology. Microsatellite markers were developed for studying genetic diversity within this sample and within the germplasm bank maintained in Guadeloupe (Cirad) and for detecting duplicates. Nineteen microsatellite markers were selected and used to analyse a total of 307 accessions from India, South-East Asia, Florida, Africa and the Caribbean. Diversity was high within the sample with a total number of 140 alleles displayed. Results demonstrated the presence of duplicates in the germplasm bank and among the collected accessions, helping genetic resources management. Nevertheless, collecting efficiency was satisfactory with 73% of the material displaying distinct genetic profiles. Dissimilarities were calculated and a diversity representation was constructed using Neighbour Joining methodology. Accessions clustered in accordance with their geographical origin and their known history. The collected Caribbean accessions displayed a high variability, but shared some specific alleles and clustered together along with cultivars grown in Central (Mexico) and South America (Colombia) introduced from the South-East Asia, but also with cultivars from former French colonies in the Indian Ocean, indicating two introduction routes of mango to the French West Indies
