Genetic Diversity Analysis of Sugarcane (Saccharum spp. hybrids) Among High-Sucrose Clones of GT Series and Commonly Used Parents by Using Microsatellite Markers in Guangxi, China

In the breeding of intermediate clones of sugarcane crop, the quality of high sugar and early-mature sucrose are important factors in the breeding program. However, the genetic diversity relationship of high-sucrose clones between parents groups is not well understood. The present study was designed to assess the relationship between high-sucrose clones and parents groups and use their potential in the breeding program. Twenty-three high-sucrose sugarcane clones of GT (HSGT) series and forty-one commonly used parents (CP) including 7 CP series from the USA, 9 ROC from Taiwan China, 14 from mainland China and 11 from other countries were analyzed at Sugarcane Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanning, Guangxi, China, for determining their genetic relationship using simple sequence repeats (SSR) molecular markers. A total of 308 bands were obtained, of which 293 were polymorphic (95.1%). We found that a total of 309 loci were scored with 23 primers using ISSR techniques and that 277 loci were polymorphic. The genetic diversity of these five populations was 99% of the total genetic variation present within populations, while about 1% of variation was found among populations. The Nei's genetic distance between populations was found to be relatively small (0.04), and the average (0.96) Nei's genetic similarity of the five populations was high. The results indicated that the genetic relationship between the high-sugar containing materials and the commonly used parents could be developed and high-sugar containing materials could be used as hybrid parents to supplement high-sugar parents and help to develop breeding programs for high-sugar containing sugarcane offspring.