Cyto-morphological Studies on Three Erianthus arundinaceus (Retz.) Jeswiet Accessions from the Andaman-Nicobar Islands, India

Abstract

Chromosome number of three new accessions of Erianthus arundinaceus (Retz.) Jeswiet, a wild relative of sugarcane, collected recently from the Andaman-Nicobar group of Islands was determined. The two collections from the Middle Andaman (Andaman Group of Islands) were recorded 2n=40, while the third collection from Katchal Island of the Nicobar group of islands was found to be 2n=60. The Andaman-Nicobar Islands are located in the Bay of Bengal between the Indian subcontinent, the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian Archipelago, which are the major areas of diversity for the species. There are two distinct groups of E. arundinaceus, one with 2n=40 present in the Indian subcontinent and the other with 2n=60 distributed in the Indonesia-New Guinea region. Obviously the clones collected from the Middle Andaman with 2n=40 are of Indian Origin, while the one from the Katchal Island with 2n=60 belongs to the Indonesian group. Evidently both Indian and Indonesian forms of Erianthus arundinaceus are present in the Andaman-Nicobar group of islands. This is the first report on the chromosome number of the E. arundinaceus from the Andaman-Nicobar Islands.