Enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman) also called Abyssinian banana, a monocarpic perennial plant native to Ethiopia. It is a crucial food source for both humans and livestock, particularly in the southern and southwestern of the country. Although Ethiopia is the center of origin and diversity of enset, its genetic diversity and population structure have not been thoroughly studied in several important growing regions. Therefore, the current study addressed this gap by evaluating the genetic diversity and population structure of 148 enset landraces collected from Gedeo, Wolaita, and Sidama using nine simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Genomic DNA was extracted using a modified Cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide (CTAB) protocol, and its quality was checked by 1% agarose gel. Nine SSR markers were selected for further genetic diversity and population structure analysis. The study revealed 88 alleles across all markers, with expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.74 to 0.9 and observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.095 to 0.96. The Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) result showed that 4% of genetic variation occurred among populations and 96% of genetic variation occurred within populations with Fst value of 0.042. Principal Coordinates Analysis (PCoA) revealed that substantial genetic admixture with no clear separation among populations. Besides, Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean (UPGMA) revealed two distinct clusters; however, it failed to show clearly distinct groups across all three populations due to admixture. Unweighted Neighbor-Joining (UNJ) dendrogram revealed a close genetic relationship between Sidama and Gedeo landraces while Wolaita stands an isolated group. All the genetic diversity parameters indicated that the three enset populations have high genetic variation within populations. It provides basis for implementing modern molecular techniques such as genome wide association study (GWAS) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)–based genotyping.
Getahun et al. (2026) studied this question.