Molecular Diversity Analysis of Selected Drought Resistant Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L) Genotypes

Molecular characterization of drought resistant germplasm helps in identification of genetically diverse germplasm lines for crop improvement and in mapping the traits. Present paper deals with molecular characterization of 8 particular abiotic (drought) resistant genotypes using a specific set of 35 polymorphic SSR (Simple Sequence Repeat) markers for the first time. The number of alleles ranged from 1 to 3 per locus. The PIC (Polymorphism Information Content) value ranged from 0 to 0.55 with an average of 0.26 indicating the considerable efficiency of markers for studying the polymorphism level. The primer 8 showed maximum PIC value (0.553), while the lowest PIC value 0.000 was observed in ten primers. The dendrogram derived from this analysis has two main clusters. The maximum similarity with a coefficient value (0.952) was found between two pairs. The conservation of these drought resistant genotype is recommended for their utilization in Middle East Asia region chickpea improvement programs.