Abstract
The randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) molecular markers were used to assess genetic diversity in 27 Sudanese maize genotypes. Ten primers were used, resulting in the amplification of 59 fragments, of which 53 (89.33) were polymorphic. The maximum number of fragment bands (10) were produced by the primer A-1 with 100% polymorphism, while the minimum numbers of fragments (3) were produced by the primer OPA-20. Using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic averages (UPGMA) method, the genetic associations obtained showed three distinct heterotic groups. The high rate of polymorphism between genotypes revealed by RAPD markers indicated that the method is efficient to analyze genetic divergence and can be used to establish consistent heterotic groups between maize genotypes. Key words: Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers, DNA polymorphism, maize genetic diversity.
Highlights
Maize (Zea mays L.) is the third most important cereal crop in the world after rice and wheat
The level of polymorphism (89.33%) obtained was higher than in some previous maize studies, such as Melo et al (2001), who obtained 61.46% of polymorphic bands working with hybrids, and Lanza et al (1997), who obtained 80.6% of polymorphism, studying genetic divergence between inbred lines using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers
One aspect to be considered is that in this study, taking into account the number and quality of the amplification products, the primers used were rigorously pre-selected, which might have contributed to increase in the level of polymorphism
Summary
Maize (Zea mays L.) is the third most important cereal crop in the world after rice and wheat. It is cultivated in a wider range of environments than wheat and rice because of its greater adaptability (Koutsika-Sotiriou, 1999). In Sudan, maize is normally grown as a rain fed crop in Kordofan, Darfur and Southern states or in small-irrigated areas in Northern states (Ahmed and Elhag, 1999). The increasing demand for maize for poultry feed or intermediary products for human nutrition have led to greater interest in this crop in Sudan. The relatively narrow gene pool and the heavy use of a small number of parents by competing breeding programs have led to a low genetic diversity among maize cultivars. Determination of the genetic diversity of any given crop species is a suitable precursor for improvement of the crop because selection of the desirable genotypes for a certain trait will not be effective unless considerable genetic variation is existing in the material under study (Khalafalla and Abdalla, 1997)
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