Applicability of peR based molecular markers for parentage analysis of mango (Mengifera indica L.) hybrids

Major efforts at mango (Mengifera indica L.) breeding have resulted in the release of several new promising mango hybrids such as Amrapali (Dasheri x Neelum), Mallika (Neelum x Dasheri), Ratna (Neelum x Alphonso) and Sindhu (Ratna x Alphonso). In present work the application of molecular markers for parentage analysis of commercial mango hybrids has been studied. Primarily, three different Single Primer Amplification Reaction (SPAR) methods, Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD), Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) and Directed Amplification of Minisatellite DNA (DAMD), have been used for establishing parent-hybrid relationship in case of three commercially important mango hybrids, that were developed using Neelum as one of the parents, and their respective parents. We show that hybrid Ratna (Neelum x Alphonso) is genetically closer to its male parent Alphonso. While reciprocal hybrids Amrapali (Dasheri x Neelum) and Mallika (Neelum x Dasheri) are closer to Neelum. Further, one RAPD and two DAMD primers have revealed Neelum-specific bands present in all three hybrids and Neelum exclusively. Such bands will be useful in breeding programs by tagging genes as well as by enabling a more efficient early selection of progeny with desirable qualities.