Assessment of genetic diversity among Suwandal rice (Oryza sativa L.) accessions based on morphological, molecular and physicochemical characteristics

An investigation was carried out to determine the extent of diversity and relationship among 14 Suwandal rice accessions collected from different parts of the country. Trial was established in the field in yala 2015 and maha 15/16. Forty three qualitative and quantitative morphological traits, six grain quality parameters, thirty SSR marker loci were used to analyze the diversity among these accessions. Considerable morphological diversity was observed in maturity, stem, leaf, panicle, floral and grain characters. These accessions grouped into four clusters according to the morphological analysis. Total number of alleles detected by 30 SSR markers was 82 and allele richness was ranged from 1-5. Out of 30 SSR loci 28 loci showed polymorphism across the tested accessions. Polymorphic Information Content varies from 0 to 0.71which underlined high genetic diversity among Suwandal accessions. Similar clustering pattern was observed in both morphological and molecular characterized data. AC11340, AC13300 & AC12827 grouped together both in morphological and molecular grouping and AC04197, AC04595 & AC004802 made another cluster. Significant variations were observed in gel consistency, antioxidant activity and gelatinization temperature among these tested accessions. No duplicates were identified. Information generated through diversity analysis based on phenotypic genotypic data and physicochemical analysis could be efficiently used to identify the different of Suwandal accessions.