Molecular Profiling of Cotton Genotypes for Fibre Properties Using Diagnostic Set of Microsatellite (SSR) Markers

Cotton (Gossypium spp.) the white gold is the world’s leading natural textile fibre and also known as "King of fibres” is one of the best gifts that nature bestowed on mankind. The objective of the present investigation was to identify the diagnostic set of microsatellite (SSR) markers for the estimation of genetic diversity and varietal identification based on genetic distances. The molecular profiling of 15 cotton genotypes were carried out by using 104 simple sequences repeats (SSRs) primers (99.26% polymorphism for fibre length and 98.07% polymorphism for fibre strength). The on an average values of polymorphic information content (PIC) were, 0.210 and 0.345, respectively for fibre length and fibre strength. Fifty primers were found polymorphic among 104 SSRs primers. The 27 SSRs primers shown 100 per cent polymorphism for the fibre length. Similarly, 23 primers were shown 100 per cent polymorphism for fibre strength. A dendrograms for fibre properties (fibre length and strength) were constructed based on the SAB values by adopting the sequential agglomerative hierarchical non-overlapping clustering technique of unweighted Pair Groups Method of Arithmetic Mean comprising 6 main groups for the fiber length and 5 clusters groups for the fiber strength. The study revealed that parents AKH 84635, AKH 10-2 and SURAJ for fibre length and parents AKH 84635, AKH 09-5 and SURAJ for fibre strength were grouped in individual cluster and found to be most diverse and genetically dissimilar parents with broad genetic base for the above fibre properties. The identified polymorphic markers could be used in the marker assisted breeding programme for the development of cotton hybrids having high fibre length and strength through the incorporation of genetically diverse parents.