Genetic diversity of sugarcane hybrid cultivars by RAPD markers.

Genetic diversity among sugarcane hybrids (Saccharum spp) is pre-requisite for sugarcane improvement through breeding. Twelve decamer oligonucleotide random-amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were utilized to investigate the genetic potential among 24 sugarcane cultivars. A total of 120 fragments were originated by 12 RAPD primers. An average number of fragments were obtained as 11.42 fragments per cultivar, which ranged from 4 to 21 fragments. The genetic similarity among 24 sugarcane cultivars ranged from 0.236 to 0.944 with the mean similarity value of 0.508. On the basis of phylogenetic analysis based on dendrogram, the cultivars were clustered into five groups. Two varieties Co 0118 and CoS 07250 were found as highly diverse sugarcane cultivars. Three most popular cultivars viz, Co 0238, Co 1158, and CoS 08272 were clustered a diverse among particular group. These clusters with their diverse genealogy indicated the influence of parental genome contribution to clustering. Diverse varieties developed for east region were grouped in the separate clusters which indicated the influence of adaptation of varieties to particular agro-climatic condition. Hence, these five diverse hybrid cultivars would be used in further breeding program to get the prominent sugarcane clones which may produced higher cane yield and sugar content.