MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS AND RAPD MARKERS FOR DIVERSITY ESTIMATION IN UPLAND COTTON (GOSSYPIUM HJRSUTUM L.)

摘要

Upland cotton (G hirsutum L.) is one of the most important fibre crops in the world. A majority of the present-day commercial cotton varieties belong to upland cotton, a few to G. barbadense and some to diploid species (G. herbaceum and G arboreuni).A large number of polymorphic markers are required to measure genetic relationships a genetic diversity in a reliable manfier. Morphological features are indicative of the genotype but are affected by environmental conditions and growth practices, On thecontrary, DNA markers such as RAPD (Williams et al, 1990; Welsh and Clelland, 1990) are not influenced by the environmental, conditions and provide unlimited number of marker loci which can be used for various purposes, including the study of genetic relatedness, varietal purity and protection of Plant Breeders' Rights. RAPD markers have been successfully used for diversity analysis ini cotton ;(Multani and Lyon, 1995; Tatineni et al 1996; Iqbal et al. 1997; Rana and Bhat, 2002). In, the present investigation, genetic diversity using morphological and RAPD markers was assessed in cotton.