Genetic diversity among different landraces of Pearl millet [Cenchrus americanus (L.) Morrone syn. Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.]

Pearl Millet (PM) is an agronomically important crop, well known for its climate resilient feature and nutritional transcendency. Twenty-eight different tropically adapted Pearl Millet Landraces (PMLRs) of Rajasthan (a north-western state of India) were evaluated for their allelic diversity employing two DNA sequence-based markers: random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR). After the preliminary screening, 5 RAPD and 5 ISSR primers were identified that gave consistent results across all 28 genotypes. PIC (Polymorphism information content) values were calculated for each primer. Distance matrix revealed that LR (Landrace) P4 shows 100 % dissimilarity with eight LRs (P1, P2, P3, P9, P16, P26, P27 and P28) and may be suitable for breeding programme. Genetic relatedness of these LRs has been estimated using UPGMA (unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean) and Principal component analysis (PCA) confirm the highly diverse nature of LRs. Results of this study offer possibilities to utilize the genetic diversity for crop improvement and agrobiodiversity conservation.