Molecular Diversity in Sugarcane Hybrids (Saccharum spp. Complex) Grown in Peninsular and East Coast Zones of Tropical India

Abstract

Sugarcane is second most important industrial crop in India. In order to avoid genetic vulnerability of hybrids for new emerging pests or diseases and to design a new sugarcane breeding strategy, it is essential to know the genetic diversity in present commercial hybrids. Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) marker was used to detect the DNA polymorphism among 22 hybrids grown in Peninsular and East coast zones of tropical India. Of the 143 fragments generated by 16 RAPD primers, 69 were polymorphic with an average of 4.31 polymorphic fragments per primer. The level of polymorphism observed among these hybrids was 42.6%. Jaccard’s similarity coefficient value recorded between closely related hybrids was 0.951 while lowest coefficient value of 0.727 was detected with distantly related hybrids. The average similarity coefficient among these hybrids was 0.831. Unweighted pair group method with arithmetic averages (UPGMA) cluster analysis divided all these hybrids into two major clusters based on adaptation to agro-climatic conditions. However, hybrids in these clusters divided into subclusters based on their pedigree. Genetic similarity obtained from the analysis could be useful for plant breeders to choose diverse parents for creating more variability and select elite varieties in breeding programmes.