Molecular Diversity Analysis Among Indian Barnyard Millet [Echinochloa frumentacea (L)] Genotypes Using RAPD Markers

Forty eight Echinochloa frumentacea genotypes were subjected to amplification with 40 RAPD primers. Initially a total of 65 RAPD primers were screened for amplification out of them 40 decamer primers amplified 182 RAPD marker loci. Out of 182 alleles, 170 (93.40%) were found to be polymorphic and remaining 12 were monomorphic. On average, 4.55 alleles per primer and 4.25 polymorphic alleles per primer were obtained. Specific alleles were amplified by the primers OPN-3, OPN-7 and OPN-13 separating concerned genotype or accession from the remaining. Two clusters of genotypes were formed during cluster analysis. First cluster contained 47 genotypes that were divided into two subgroups, the first subgroup ‘A’ contained four genotypes and subgroup ‘B’ of 43 genotypes. Subgroup B was further classified into Subgroup C contained one genotype and Subgroup D contained 42 genotypes. Minor group (Group 1) contained only one genotype PCGB 27. According to Jaccard’s similarity coefficient, highest similarity was between PCGB 39 and PCGB 40 (93.3%). The highest genetic diversity was observed between PCGB 3 and PCGB 45 (45.5%). These genotypes may be used as diverse parents for future breeding programmes for Barnyard millet improvement.