EVALUATION OF GENETIC DIVERSITY IN SUGARCANE CULTIVARS BASED ON DNA MARKERS AND MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS

PERERA, M. F.; ARIAS, M. E.; COSTILLA, D; LUQUE, C.; GARCÍA, M. B.; DIAZ ROMERO, C.; CUENYA, M. I.; RACEDO J.; FILIPPONE, M. P.; CASTAGNARO, A. P.

EUPHYTICA

SPRINGER

Año: 2012 vol. 185 p. 491 - 510

0014-2336

Sugarcane genetic diversity knowledge should contribute to the improved use and conservation of genetic resources, especially taking into account that this crop has considerable value as a bioenergy feedstock and should be considered as a high genetic complexity model. Diversity can be determined by means of morphological and molecular markers. Morphological descriptors are traditional tools to characterice varieties; however, they could be affected by environmental conditions. Molecular markers are becoming important for genotype identification and diversity estimation. Significant sugarcane genotypes to breeding programs and production in Argentina were characterized by AFLP, SSR and morphological traits, and their genetic diversity was estimated. All cultivars were in one main cluster in the dendrograms using NTSys and InfoStat programs. At least 150 characters had to be included in the analysis to obtain the same cluster with both programs. Local genotypes grouped together with USA varieties and no clear genetic differentiation could be found between these programs due to the constant germplasm exchange. Although morphological traits only reflected external resemblance, dendogram topology that revealed genetic relationships was not modified when molecular and morphological methods were used jointly. So, both methods should be used together to estimate diversity, and molecular traits should be included in the characters established internationally for sugarcane variety protection.