Genetic divergence in Conilon coffee revealed by RAPD markers

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the genetic variability of 49 Coffea canephora clones of the breeding program ofthe Capixaba Institute of Research, Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (Incaper) based on RAPD markers. Thirty-oneprimers were used with polymorphism patterns that generated 333 markers, of which 231 (69.4%) were polymorphic. Thegroup of genotypes based on the UPGMA algorithm and Tocher optimization methods detected high divergence in thegenotypes. It was found that the component clones of each clone variety recommended by Incaper are distributed in variousgenetically dissimilar groups, in spite of common phenotypic traits. The relatively wide genetic diversity observed heredemonstrates the importance of hybridizations between these germplasms. The RAPD markers efficiently estimated the geneticdivergence in the 49 C. canephora genotypes studied.

Keywords

• Coffea canephora
• clonal cultivars
• Espirito Santo
• genetic variability
• genetic improvement.