Evaluation of Clonal Fidelity of Micropropagated Date Palm by Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD)

Date palm is a fruit-bearing tree commonly found in arid and semiarid regions. It is a dioecious plant, producing fruit on female plants and a limited number of basal offshoots for propagation. To produce large numbers of uniform plantlets, tissue culture techniques are required. It is highly advisable to detect genetic variation that may occur through micropropagation techniques as it may lead to phenotypic alterations. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) is a simple and PCR-based molecular marker technique which can be employed to check the somaclonal variation. Screening of markers requires repeated confirmation of the pattern obtained in individual samples.