Genetic diversity among eight diverse fertility restorer lines of exotic and indigenous origin was studied using agronomic characters and molecular markers. Thirty eight of the 79 SSR markers used were found polymorphic yielding a total of 113 alleles with mean polymorphism information content (PIC) of 0.37 per marker. Dendrograms resulting from an UPGMA cluster analysis classified the fertility restorer lines into two main clusters with distinct sub-grouping. On the whole a very low range of genetic similarity (GS) was observed, which indicated that the fertility restorer lines used in the study are genetically diverse. There was low correspondence between the similarity matrices as obtained with morphological and molecular data. The information deduced from the study can be utilized in hybrid breeding programme as well as in producing combination of different fertility restorer genes in a single genetic background.
Wheat, fertility restorer, genetic similarity, molecular diversity, SSR markers
