Genetic diversity among salt-tolerant rice (Oryza sativa L.) landraces cultivated in the coastal districts of Bangladesh

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine genetic diversity and relationships among the salt-tolerant rice landraces cultivated in the coastal districts of Bangladesh. DNA extracted from seedlings of nine salt-tolerant local rice landraces and three established salt-tolerant rice varieties was subjected to random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis using a number of random decamer primers. Polymorphic bands generated with five primers were scored and used for determining polymorphic information contents (PIC) and in deriving a dendrogram using the Jaccard similarity coefficient-based unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic means (UPGMA). The five primers generated 84 reproducible bands of the size range 0.24-1.90 kbp and 73% of the bands were polymorphic. The UPGMA dendrogram showed five major clusters at genetic similarity of 0.55. The PIC values ranged from 0.71 to 0.90 with an average of 0.85. The pair-wise similarity index values ranged 28.8-97.1% among the twelve genotypes. The three established rice verities formed a single cluster and the local landraces formed four clusters. Our result revealed high level of genetic diversity among the local rice landraces. The RAPD markers identified could be useful in developing high-yield salt-tolerant rice strains with improved grain quality.

Keywords

• RAPD markers
• genetic diversity
• Oryza sativa
• salt-tolerant rice landraces