Abstract
Electrophoretic analyses of nine enzymes in 15 Nepali and two Kashmirian populations of common buckwheat were conducted by horizontal starch gel electrophoresis. The Nepali populations maintained as much allozyme variability as other outcrossing annual plant species. They were polymorphic at the loci, ADH, 6-PGDH-1, PGM-2, MDH-1, MDH-3 and some populations were also polymorphic at the GOT-1 and GDH loci. The percentage of poly-morphic loci was 32.5% and the average heterozygosity was 0.077 on the average. No distinct local differentiation among the Nepali populations was found. The Kashmirian populations which probably came from the Nepali Himalayan region had less genetic variability. They lost the variant alleles at the ADH, 6-PGDH-1 and PGM-2 loci, probably during the spread of cultivation. The low level of allozyme variability previously found in Japanese and European populations may also be interpreted by the loss of genetic variability during the spread of cultivation.
