Evaluation of Issr Markers to Assess Genetic Variability and Relationship Among Winter Triticale (X Triticosecale Wittmack) Cultivars

The ISSR technique was used to identify genetic relationships in 11 winter hexaploid triticale cultivars “Lasko, Stan-1, Malno, Purdy, AN-34, Tatlicak-97, Karma-2000, Presto, Melez-2001, Mikham-2002, Samur Sorti”. Twenty ISSR primers were tested and twelve of them amplified clear and reproducible bands. The number of ISSR fragments generated per primer set ranged from 5 to 31 with fragment sizes varying from 320 to 2700bp. A total of 209 ISSR fragments were detected, of which 159 were polymorphic (76.07%). All cultivars were clearly differentiated by their ISSR fingerprints. Based on UPGMA analysis a dendrogram was constructed and 11 triticale cultivars were grouped in two clusters. Cluster I was the largest, comprising 10 cultivars which can be divided into four subclusters. Only one cultivar, “Stan-1” was positioned in Cluster II. The polymorphic patterns generated by ISSR profiles showed different degrees of genetic relationship among the cultivars studied. Similarity values between cultivars ranged from 0.59 to 0.89. The results indicate that ISSRs may constitute a relatively simple and efficient method for analysing genetic variation in triticale.