Technical Abstract: Four inbred lines of carrot (cytoplasmic male steriles and corresponding maintainers) and eight of their F1 hybrids were studied with the AFLP technique to examine their genetic relationship and produce markers useful for testing hybrid seed purity. Eighty-six polymorphic amplicons were identified using 8 primer pair combinations. Genetic distance was estimated on the basis of presence or absence of the polymorphic bands. The dendrogram plotted on the basis of the AFLP data closely represented the pedigree relationships of the lines and their hybrids. From 1 to 6 amplicons specific for a breeding line were identified. Most of them were also present in the respective F1 hybrids, thus providing a potentially useful test of hybrid seed purity. A subset of 39 markers produced using three primer combinations was used to evaluate levels of polymorphism within two parental lines and the corresponding hybrid. Multidimensional scaling plot revealed three clusters corresponding to the studied lines and their progeny.