GENETIC DIVERSITY AS REVEALED BY RAPD ANALYSIS AMONG CHICKPEA GENOTYPES

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to estimate the genetic diversity and to evaluate the relationship between eight chickpea genotypes that is the valuable source for breeding. Chickpea seed is a good source of carbohydrates and proteins, constituting 80% of the total dry seed weight. The variable response of chickpea genotypes were characterized by using the 15 RAPD primers. The total numbers of amplification products generated were 915, and among them 898 were found to be polymorphic. The number of amplification products ranged from 28-81 from 15 arbitrary primers. The molecular weight of the generated bands in the present study ranged from 100-2968 bp. Primers BG-30, C and OPA-02 generated the maximum number of amplified products. Minimum number of 28 RAPD products were obtained with OPA-04. 16 RAPD products were recorded as unique or species specific and resulted in 98.1% of polymorphism.