Estimation of genetic diversity among maize inbred lines

Abstract

One of the most effective method in maize (Zea mays L) selection of adapted material is to create synthetic populations from inbred lines of known origin and superior properties. The methods used for inter- and intra-population synthetic improvement are some of the recurrent selection techniques. Success of recurrent selection depends on the choice of parent components and the method that will be used to obtain new inbred lines. The aim of this paper was to apply molecular markers for estimation of genetic variability of inbred lines, as potential parent components of synthetic populations. Molecular characterization of 26 inbred lines was done with 18 polymorphic SSR (Simple Sequence Repeat) markers. The total number of obtained alleles was 54, and ranged from two alleles for primers: phi033, phi036, phi087 and umc1013 to five alleles for primer umc1040. Genetic similarity values were calculated using Dice coefficient in the NTSYSpc2 program package. The highest similarity value (0.96) was calculated between inbred lines L22 and L24, while the lowest value (0.26) was between inbred lines L7 and L21. Cluster analysis divided the inbred lines into three groups mostly in accordance with their origin. The variability detected using SSR markers could be useful in selecting best parental combinations in creating synthetic populations.