Study of Genetic Diversity of Coffea canephora Pierre ex A. Froehner Accessions by RAPD Markers

Abstract

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to assess the level of genetic variability among 35 robusta coffee accessions consisting exotic and private estate collections having good yield performance under drought conditions DR (drought resistance) accessions. Seventeen informative RAPD markers were generated 212 loci, of which 122 loci found polymorphic (58%). The dendrogram was drawn to visualize relationships among the accessions, wherein three major clusters were formed, where in exotic collections showed closely relatedness with local estate collections demonstrated the narrow genetic base but no trends of significant genetic variance. Even in the dissimilarity matrix constructed by Squared Euclidean Distances (SED) and three-dimensional Principal Component Analysis (PCA) also conferred close distribution of the accessions. The correlation between dissimilarity matrices generated by these methods (r = 0.3) indicated they are positively associated but the relationship was non-significant. However, Drought Resistance (DR) accessions grouped distinctly, which can be phenotyped and used as genetic material for breeding for drought resistance.