MORPHOGENETIC DIVERSITY IN POMEGRANATE THROUGH ISOPEROXIDASE PROFILE

Punica granatum, represented by horticultural and ornamental cultivars, grows wild in the lower hills of Himalayas. The species exhibits chromosomal variation at diploid level, structural heterozygosity and variable number of B-chromosomes. Its north-west Indian populations also exhibit variation in leaf, flower, fruit characters, and habit. Isoperoxidase profiles are analysed presently in the Small leaf type and normal leaf type taxa among wild populations, and single flowered and double flowered cultivars among cultivated individuals to segregate the variants and to find the interrelationships, if any. Of the eleven isozymes, the type 'k' of high mobility is shared by all the taxa. The cultivated single flowered and wild normal leaf type taxa show close affinity. The variant with much smaller leaves, flowers, fruits and bushy habit show different isozymes pattern from the other wild individuals.