Molecular Analysis of Soybean Cultivars Differing in Response to Salinity Stress

Forty-seven soybean cultivars differing in response to sodium chloride were analyzed with 37 SSR markers for genetic diversity estimation. Thirty-two (86.5%) out of 37 markers were polymorphic. The number of alleles ranged from 2–7 for different polymorphic markers, whereas the polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.061 to 0.793 with an average of 0.549. Average genetic similarity coefficient was 0.281. UPGMA based cluster analysis placed cultivars into five main clusters. In addition, the Mantel's test for cophenetic correlation with r = 0.878 indicated good fit of the cultivars to a group in the cluster analysis. No clear pattern was observed between major clusters and place of release or targeted area of the cultivars. Genetically diverse cultivars were identified that could be potentially important sources of the germplasm for the development of salt tolerant cultivars in soybean.