Abstract

The inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) marker was used in this study for genetic fingerprinting and identification of released chickpea varieties and for the determination of the genetic relationships among these cultivars. A total of 19 released chickpea varieties were subjected to ISSR analysis with the objective of evaluating the genetic diversity among the cultivars. A total of 20 ISSR primers were initially screened and later based on their reproducibility and polymorphism, four of them were selected for the molecular diversity assay. Amplification of genomic DNA of the 19 varieties using four ISSR primers produced 38 scorable fragments. On average, 9.5 polymorphic bands per primer were observed in ISSR analysis. The total number of bands amplified by 3’ anchored primers varied from 7 to 12. The primers based on poly (GGAGA) and (AG)YT repeat motifs produced highest number of fragments (10 and 12, respectively), whereas, primers GACA and (GA)T, produced minimum number of fragments (7 and 9, respectively). Overall, 81.58% of the loci were polymorphic and 96.17 and 3.83% of variation were partitioned into within and among population, respectively. The least genetic similarity was recorded between the varieties, Shasho and Minjar (0.41), and highest genetic similarity (0.97) between the varieties, Worku and Kutaye. The UPGMA dendrogram clustered all genotypes into four different clusters and three varieties such as Shasho, Chefe and DZ-10-11 observed to be an out lie. The results indicate the presence of genetic diversity within released cultivars of chickpea in Ethiopia.

Key words: Cluster analysis, gene diversity, molecular marker, polymerase chain reaction, inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR), Ethiopia.