Estimation of genetic diversity among pear cultivars using PCR-based RAPD markers

Diversity studies are desirable for the purpose of better management and conservation of the genetic resources and for planning the breeding strategies. In the present study genetic relatedness among twenty genotypes of pear growing in Himachal Pradesh was tested using RAPD molecular marker analysis using 26 RAPD primers. The average size of amplicons ranged from 100 to 2000 bp with minimum (OPP-12) of 100–900 bp and maximum (OPP-05) of 200–2000 bp. Among all the primers the highest polymorphism was found to be 100 per cent (OPA-03, OPA-20, OPC-01, OPC-08, OPE-15, OPE-18, OPH-14, OPL-12, OPP-05, OPP-12, OPU-01, OPU-11, OPU-20, OPY-16 and OPY-17). The level of polymorphism across the subjected genotypes was 96.15 per cent by RAPD markers. Therefore the high level of detected polymorphism would impress their applicability in development of superior progenies, QTL mapping, molecular breeding, investigation of population genetic diversity, comparative mapping and the selection of the parents in near future.