Molecular evaluations of thirty one clones of poplar based on RAPD and SSR molecular markers

Poplar is an important tree species valued all over the world for its wood importance. Despite limited knowledge of the levels of genetic diversity and relatedness, their cultivation as a source of plywood is widespread. In order to facilitate reasoned scientific decisions on its management and conservation and prepare for selective breeding programme, genetic analysis of 31 genotypes was performed using RAPD and SSR molecular markers. Twenty six RAPD primers and 14 SSR primers amplified a total of 236 and 85 scoreable bands of which 86.44% and 86.02% were polymorphic. The mean coefficient of gene differentiation (Gst) was 0.388 and 0.341 indicating that 61.2% and 65.9% of the genetic variation resided within the populations. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that majority of genetic variation (94.6% using RAPD and 89% using SSR) occurred among genotypes, while the variation between the three groups (categorized as tall, medium and small plants height) was 5.4% (using RAPD and 11% (using SSR). The dendrogram obtained from NJ and STRUCTURE analysis revealed splitting of genotypes into four clusters with clear distinction between short, medium and tall height genotypes, indicated that genetic differentiations measure with respect to RAPD and SSR. However, both the markers were equally useful in providing some understanding about the genetic relationship of different genotypes of poplar that are important in the conservation and exploitation of poplar genetic resources