Abstract

For improvement of maize crop presence of genetic diversity in the germplasm is very important. This study was conducted to determine genetic diversity among 17 Pakistani maize genotypes using 10 simple sequence repeat (SSR) primer sets. All the amplification products were in the range of <250-750 bp. To estimate the genetic diversity among the genotypes, bivariate data matrix was generated and genetic distances were calculated. High degree of genetic polymorphism was observed among the maize genotypes with overall genetic distance ranged from 0 - 100% and average genetic distance ranged from 0 - 81%. A total of 196 alleles were amplified with an average of 1.56 alleles per-microsatellite/genotypes locus. SSR primer sets p-umc1354, p-umc1984, p-umc1186, p-umc1325, p-umc2281, p-umc1586, p-umc1824 and p-umc1154 amplified 2.90, 1.06, 2.00, 1.35, 1.50, 1.50, 1.00 and 1.18 loci per genotype, respectively. Two SSR primer sets p-mmc0411 and p-umc1184 amplified none of the genomic DNA of 17 genotypes. Two genetically most diverse comparisons (population 9804 vs pahari and population 9804 vs CGCW) were identified and recommendations have been made to use these comparisons of maize genotypes in further breeding programs.

Key words: Zea mays, SSR markers, genetic diversity.