Identification of Some Apple Rootstock Genotypes Using SSR Markers

SSR markers were used to determine the genetic relatedness among 14 apple rootstock genotypes from the hybridization between Skarji and MM106 . 15 primer-pairs gave 25 polymorphic alleles among 29 alleles, which were able to detect the polymorphism among the studied genotypes (86.2%), and gave (1-3) alleles, with an average (1.93) allele in each locus. The genotype 13 revealed the highest genetic relatedness with MM106 (0.700), while the genotype 4 has the lowest genetic relatedness with MM106 (0.308). On the other hand, the genotype 4 has the highest genetic relatedness with Skarji (0.650), while the genotype 13 has the lowest one with Skarji (0.296). Cluster analysis divided the studied genotypes into three groups. The first group includes MM106 with seven genotypes, while the second group includes Skarji with three genotypes. The third group contains four genotypes which laid between the two previous groups. The Hav(p) was (0.41), MI (10.25) and HO (0.57). Consequently, SSR marker is an efficient tool to detect polymorphism, co-dominant alleles, and identification of genetic resources, so it is useful for apple rootstock breeding and selection program to reduce time of evaluation.