Assessment of genetic diversity in quality protein maize (QPM) lines using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers

Abstract

Maize is a primary source of energy supplement and can contribute up to 30% protein, 60% energy and 90% starch in an animal’s diet. In the present investigation, 48 microsatellite markers, spread across the maize genome were used for analyzing genetic diversity among the sixty three quality protein maize (QPM) lines, including lines developed in India and CIMMYT, Mexico. Polymorphic profiles for 37 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci aided in differentiating the QPM inbred lines. Using SSR procedures, the number of alleles per locus ranged from two to six, giving a total of 151 alleles for the 37 SSR loci. The genotypes were grouped into different clusters using NTSYSpc2.11 programme. The polymorphic information content (PIC) value was found to be highest for the primers bnlg1401, bnlg2136, bnlg1633 and umc 1357 (0.96) while the lowest value was for the primer umc 1656 (0.75) with the mean value of 0.48. From this study, the inbred line CML 142(w) is to give better combinations with CML 172, CM 161, CML 163, CLQRCYQ 281, CML 121, HQPM 5, HQPM 7, CML165 and CML 161 × CML 165 for the development of hybrids suitable for India.

Key words: QPM, SSR, cluster analysis.