Genetic diversity of Brassica rapa germplasm of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan revealed by molecular markers

A total of 96 indigenous Brassica rapa accessions were collected from different locations of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) markers were used to identify the most diverse genotypes among the collected lots. Twenty six (26) different SSR primers were used for (genetic) variability among collected genotypes. These primers were selected from literature based on their previous results. These primers produced 135 scorable bands of which 75 were polymorphic, with an average of 55.5% polymorphic loci, and reflected the broader genetic background of the collected genotypes. An average 2.88 polymorphic bands with an average PIC value of 0.49 was recorded. Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean (UPGMA) divided all genotypes into three main groups. Group one contained three clusters, while group two and three had four and two clusters each. Based on the UPGMA dendrogram, genotypes collected from Kohat, Bannu, Swat and Haripur showed considerable amount of variation. From the present study, it is concluded that SSR markers can be proved as the best tool for the genetic variability of other local and exotic B. rapa genotypes.