EVALUATION OF GENETIC DIVERSITY AMONG GLADIOLUS (GLADIOLUS HYBRIDUS HORT.) GERMPLASM USING ISSR MARKERS

Considering the high level of morphological diversity in gladiolus germplasm, comparison of genetic variation among 15 gladiolus genotypes was evaluated using nine inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. The results suggested that the ISSR markers produced much better reproducible bands and were more efficient in grouping germplasm. The number of ISSR fragments generated per primer set ranged from 4 to 13 with fragment sizes varying from 100-1300 bp. A total of 75 polymorphic bands generated 100% polymorphism. All germplasm were clearly differentiated by their ISSR fingerprints. The Jaccard similarity indices (J) based on ISSR profiles were subjected to UPGMA cluster analysis. The dendogram generated by ISSR markers revealed two major groups, indicating that genotypes collected from different geographical regions in one cluster. Some correspondence between the molecular grouping and geographical regions were also observed in the present study.