1Division of Crop Improvement, ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur, 208 024, Uttar Pradesh, India
Division of Plant Biotechnology, ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur, 208 024, Uttar Pradesh, India
*Corresponding Author: Meenal Rathore, Division of Plant Biotechnology, ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur, 208 024, Uttar Pradesh, India, E-Mail: mnl.rthr@gmail.com
Online Published on 11 August, 2023.
Genetic diversity and population structure of 21 cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.)Walp) popular genotypes were evaluated using simple sequence repeat (SSR) molecular markers. A set of 144 primer pairs were used; out of which 71 gave polymorphic amplicons. A total of 184 amplicons with an average of 2.562 alleles per polymorphic marker were observed. The average effective number of alleles (Ne) was 1.928 alleles per genotype. The presence of a higher Shannon’s information index (I) of 0.651 indicates higher diversity in the given set of cowpea lines. The total accessions were stratified into 2 groups (K=2) in population structure analysis. In phylogenetic analysis, 3 major clades were formed. The results give insight into existing diversity in the popular cowpea cultivars and a framework for future studies aimed at the selection of parental lines for cowpea genetic improvement programmes.
Cowpea, Diversity, Popular cultivars, SSR markers