Analysis of genetic diversity in female, male and half sibs willow genotypes through RAPD and SSR markers

Willows belong to the genus Salix ( Salicaceae ) and consist of large number of species with large phenotypic variations. As a result, it has a low diagnostic value for identifying pure species and interspecific hybrids. Genetic characterization of 34 reference genotypes (4 female, 10 male, and 20 half sibs) of Salix collected from Naganji Nursery of University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India were analyzed using 10 SSRs and 15 RAPDs PCR-based molecular markers. RAPD analysis yielded 87 polymorphic fragments (98.9%), with an average of 5.8 polymorphic fragments per primer. Similarly, SSR analysis produced 33 bands, out of which 26 were polymorphic (78.8%) with an average of 2.6 polymorphic fragments per primer. The genetic diversity was high among the genotypes (Nei’s genetic diversity = 0.468 and Shannon’s information index = 0.659) as measured by combination of both RAPD and SSR markers. The mean coefficient of gene differentiation (Gst) was 0.034, indicating 96.6% of the genetic diversity resided within the genotypes. The genetic diversity among genotypes of Salix sp. was found to be high, suggesting the importance and feasibility of introducing elite genotypes from different origins for Salix germplasm conservation and breeding programs. Keywords: Salix sp., half sibs, molecular markers, genomic DNA fingerprinting. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(29), pp. 4578-4587