Assessment of Genetic Diversity in Castor (Ricinuscommunis L.) using Microsatellite Markers

Abstract

Due to expanded usage and a primary raw material for various industrial applications and biofuel production, variability is necessity to develop high yielding castor (Ricinus communis L.) genotypes. Therefore, it is essential to document the germplasm of this important crop to increase its production. With this view, a study was conducted with 15 diverse castor genotypes to evaluate diversity using 14 microsatellite/simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers. In SSR analysis, 14 primers generated a total of 31 amplicons with mean number of 2.21 polymorphic amplicons per primer. The range of molecular weight of these amplicond/bands was from 120 to 300 bp. The polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.231 (SSR-8) to 0.684 (SSR-10) with an average of 0.413. The primers SSR-7 and SSR-10 possess higher PIC value above 0.6. The highest genetic similarity was noticed between the genotypes, GEETA and 48-1 whereas; least genetic similarity was reported between the genotypes namely, JI-96 and SH-72. Clustering pattern of dendrogram generated by pooled SSR data showed two main clusters. The cluster A was the largest with eight genotypes and cluster B contained seven genotypes. Accessions, JI-96 and SH-72 were identified as highly diverse based on molecular studies and can be exploited to develop biparental mapping populations as well as in castor improvement program to wider the genetic background of various castor genotypes.