Vegetos

Abstract

Assessment of genetic diversity among wheat cultivars is important to ensure that a continuous pool of cultivars with varying desirable traits is maintained. In view of this, the genetic diversity of forty wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes was assessed using simple sequence repeats (SSR) and eleven morphological traits. Total 24 SSRs (88.8%) showed amplification of which 11 SSRs (40.7%) produced polymorphic bands. In all, 44 alleles were detected with an average of 1.83 alleles. The size of amplified product ranged from 150–400 bps. The PIC values ranged from 0.56 (Xgwm413) to 0.74 (Xbarc 163, Barc 149 and Xgwm 295) with an average of 0.67. EMR and MI values lie between 3 to 5 and 1.68 to 3.68 respectively. Unique bands were detected in three genotypes (WH1156, PBW550 and WH1080). A dendrogram was constructed based on the genetic similarity coefficient of un-weighted pair-wise group method with arithmetic average (UPGMA). Genetic distance between the clusters ranged from 0.69 to 1.00. The eight clusters and their similarities will help breeders to breed new disease resistant cultivars and make rational deployment of cultivars in production based on the established relationships.