Genetic diversity among some rice genotypes with different drought tolerance based on SSR markers

Abstract

Rice is the most important food crop for the developing world. Hence, identifying rice genotypes to drought tolerance for using as donors in breeding is one of the most important challenges for rice research. Therefore, Molecular markers are useful tools to determine genetic diversity and identifying rice genotypes to drought tolerance. In the present study, A number of 41 rice genotypes with different drought tolerance from different geographic locations were evaluated for genetic diversity by using 15 SSR markers. A total of 68 alleles were detected of which 61(89.79%) were polymorphic. The number of alleles detected by a single marker varied from 2 to 8 alleles with an average of 4.71 alleles per locus. The polymorphic information content (PIC) values ranged from 0.07 (RM219) to 0.80 (RM263) with an average of 0.52. Genetic similarity coefficients of pair wise comparisons were estimated on the basis of the polymorphic microsatelite loci ranged from 0.23 to 0.91 indicating a wide range of genetic variation present among the studied genotypes. It was determined that the primers RM20A, RM302, RM212 and RM286 could be useful for selecting drought tolerant lines through MAS approach. The most significant application of these identified major QTLs for drought tolerance is to collect those favorable alleles into elite local line through marker assisted breeding. The results indicated the ability of SSR markers to identify the allelic diversity and genetic variation among the studied rice genotypes. These results recommended for using this material in future breeding programs to provide important source of genetic diversity for drought tolerance in rice.