Waterlogging tolerance, phenolic and flavonoid contents, and genetic diversity among Moringa oleifera self-pollinated lines

Moringa oleifera Lam. (drumstick) is a valuable vegetable with considerable health benefits. The cultivation of M. oleifera is limited to well-drained soil as they are poorly tolerant to waterlogged conditions. In this study, self-pollinated lines, derived from a parental drumstick exhibiting high tolerance to waterlogging in Hue city, Vietnam, were studied. Seventy six lines were assayed for their morphological traits and waterlogging tolerance. Furthermore, seven RAPD primers and three SRAP primer pairs were employed to explore the genetic diversity among the M. oleifera parental and 76 self-pollinated lines. A high level of genetic diversity was observed within the germplasm. The dendrogram divided the germplasm genetically into five main groups. Finally, their phenolic and flavonoid contents were determined to identify lines with the highest concentration of bioactive compounds. These findings can aid future breeding programs to create elite cultivars of Moringa oleifera.