Genetic relationships among chickpea (Cicer arietinum) elite lines based on RAPD and agronomic markers

Utilization of diverse germplasm is needed to enhance the genetic diversity of cultivars. Genetically diverse lines provide ample opportunity to create favourable gene combinations and the probability of producing a unique genotypes increases in proportion to the number of gene by which the parents differ. The objective of this study was to evaluate the genetic relationships of 36 chickpea germplasm accessions using morphological traits and RAPD markers. Out of 33 primers, nine primers generated 44 polymorphic markers. The average polymorphic information content (PIC) was 0.43, ranging from 0.68 to 0.12. The lowest and the highest PIC value were recorded for primer OPB10 and OPJ-20, respectively. The average genetic distance (GD), based on Fst values among the 36 accessions was 0.397, ranging from 0.59 to 0.12. Cluster analysis based on morphological traits separated the accessions into three groups and based on RAPD data accessions formed in four distinct groups. The RAPD analysis clearly indicated that even with nine polymorphic primers, reliable estimation of genetic diversity could be obtained. The markers generated by RAPD assays can provide practical information for the management of genetic diversity.