Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) is a tropical plant that originated in South America and later spread to Africa and Asia, including Indonesia. Sulawesi Island in Indonesia is one of the primary production centers of cashew nuts. The insufficient superior planting material is one of the major hindrances in developing cashew nut production in Indonesia. Therefore, the presented research aimed to explore and identify the diversity and kinship of cashew nuts on Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. For cashew characterization and identification, the morphological traits and molecular analysis employed the inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) method. Data analysis on morphological traits phenetically also used the unweighted pair group method (UPGMA) in the multivariate statistical package (MVSP) programs. Polymorphic allele data obtained from ISSRs incurred assessment using the principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) with the GenAlEx ver. 6.5 program. The results revealed genetic diversity among cashew populations, and some populations exhibited higher heterozygosity and diversity indices. The clustering pattern disclosed the considerable relationship between specific populations, while others appear isolated, demonstrating genetic divergence resulting from geographical isolation and environmental adaptation. This discovery underscores the importance of conserving populations with high genetic diversity as a potential resource for future breeding.
Cashew (A. occidentale L.), genetic diversity, morphology, molecular analysis, ISSR
The results provided a clear understanding of the genetic diversity of cashew (A. occidentale L.) genotypes in Indonesia and provide a scientific basis for future conservation policies and the development of superior cashew cultivars.