Genetic diversity analysis of sugarcane ( Saccharum sp.) clones using simple sequence repeat markers of sugarcane and rice

Molecular markers are powerful tools, which help in differentiating plant varieties at the DNA level and have been widely used for genetic diversity studies in a number of crop speciesʹ. Understanding the genetic diversity of available clones of S. officinarum and S. spontaneum will be helpful in breeding programs. In the present study, a set of 48 sugarcane clones from National Hybridization Garden, Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore was subjected to genetic diversity analysis involving 40 SSR markers of sugarcane and rice. SSR analysis involving a set of 20 sugarcane and 20 rice primer pairs generated 147 and 114 markers with average polymorphism information content (PIC) value of 0.665 and 0.532 respectively. Cluster analysis using rice marker across 48 genotypes revealed two major clusters with ISH 23 remaining a deviant from the rest of the cultivars. Cluster analysis based on sugarcane SSR markers were found to be more or less similar to that based on rice SSR markers showing minor difference in grouping. Hence, similar results obtained for characterizing the sugarcane clones by using SSR markers from sugarcane and rice reveal that markers with better discriminating power from other cereals can bring out better characterization of sugarcane clones.