Molecular characterization and diversity analysis of thirty-two rice genotypes using 11 SSR primers were undertaken in order to further utilize these lines in the breeding programmes. The results revealed that 7 primers showed distinct polymorphism among the genotypes consistently. A total of 33 amplification products were obtained with all the selected seven primers. The number of alleles varied from 3 to 7 with a mean of 4.71. The PIC values of 7 primers varied from 0.1986 to 0.3038 with a mean of 0.2625. Cluster analysis based on SSR data revealed that the genotypes MTU-2077 and JGL-1798 were clustered at the two extremes based on their similarity coefficients. This information could be used in hybridization programmes for the improvement of rice.
rice, SSR markers, genetic diversity and molecular characterization
