Morpho-Molecular Genetic Diversity Analysis of Little Millet (Panicum sumatrense) using Yield Attributing Traits and ISSR Markers to Evaluate its Performance as a Summer Crop

Abstract

The knowledge of genetic diversity among the genotypes and its relationship plays a vital role for genetic improvement in crop breeding programs. The present study was conducted to assess the performance of 18 little millet genotypes in local conditions of Bihar and analyze the genetic diversity by using morphological traits and 16 ISSR markers. The field experiment was conducted in RBD design in the month of April 2020, to evaluate the performance of the plant as a summer crop. ANOVA analysis revealed the presence of substantial amount of variability among 18 genotypes. The maximum mean sum of square values was recorded for plant height followed by flag leaf length within the genotypes. The descriptive statistical analysis showed that plant height followed by length of flag leaf contributed the most towards the divergence. A total of 117 alleles including 43 unique alleles and 74 shared alleles were obtained by amplification with ISSR primers. All the primers were highly polymorphic and produced amplified product with a size ranged between 354-2315 bp. The primers UBC 807 followed by HB 10 and UBC 814 were found to be the most effective in detecting genetic diversity. The dendrogram based on Dice’s similarities coefficient, grouped the genotypes into five clusters. The genotypes WV-168 and WV-115 followed by WV-122 and WV-124 were found to have greatest variability. The present study identified genotypes which can be grown as summer crops. The diversified genotypes among the population were also identified, which could be utilized as parents for breeding program.