Molecular characterization of rice land races using SSR markers

Genetic improvement mainly depends on the extent of genetic variability present in the population. The molecular marker isa useful tool for assessing genetic variations and resolving cultivar identities. The objective of this study was to evaluate thegenetic divergence of 12 rice land races using five SSR markers. A total of 11 alleles were detected in 12 land races and thenumber of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 3 with an average of 2.2 per locus. Among the primers used RM 481 indentifiedmore number of alleles and average PIC was 0.43. The dendrogram based on SSR marker analysis grouped the 12 riceaccession into six clusters, where cluster VI was the largest with three accessions. The similarity coefficient throughJaccard’s revealed that Anna samba and Chettivirippu were ascertained to be the genetically diverse from the other landraces. The study also highlighted use of more number of markers for efficient characterizing the land races used for thepresent study