Assessment of morpho-physiological variations and rapd polymorphism of Avena sativa (L) Genotypes

Twenty three oat (Avena sativa L) genotypes were evaluated for their morpho-physiological parameters and correlation with the RAPD data of 12 oligo nucleotide primers. Genetic correlation analysis of 18 morpho-physiological characters showed higher coefficient of variation (CV) for root dry weight (46.918) followed by root: shoot ratio (45.809). The RAPD markers showed a moderate polymorphism (42.10%) out of the total 114 bands generated. The dendrogram showed all 23 genotypes grouped into five clusters. The highest level of similarity was observed among JHO-822 and 2002-3 genotypes (97%). The most divergent genotype was 38-2 among all 23 genotypes. The per cent decrease in root:shoot ratio at flowering compared to vegetative stage is an important parameter in selecting the genotypes for drought resistance characters. The more decrease in per cent of root:shoot ratio in the later stage, i.e. flowering compared to vegetative stage, more resistant to drought (having value 60–70%) and the highest similarity with the 2^nd cluster of RAPD with 6 genotypes having the most similar genotype, JHO-2002-5.