Genetic variation within and among lowland switchgrass cultivars as revealed with AFLP polymorphisms

Authors: MAKAJU, SHIVA - University Of Georgia; WU, YANQI - Oklahoma State University; ANDERSON, MICHAEL - Oklahoma State University; KAKANI, VIJAYA - Oklahoma State University; SMITH, MICHAEL - Oklahoma State University; Todd, James; ADHIKARI, LAXMAN - Kansas State University

Submitted to: Global Journal of Agricultural and Allied Sciences
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/15/2020
Publication Date: 8/10/2020
Citation: Makaju, S.O., Wu, Y., Anderson, M.P., Kakani, V.G., Smith, M., Todd, J.R., Adhikari, L. 2020. Genetic variation within and among lowland switchgrass cultivars as revealed with AFLP polymorphisms. Global Journal of Agricultural and Allied Sciences. 2(1):11-17. https://doi.org/10.35251/gjaas.2020.002.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.35251/gjaas.2020.002

Interpretive Summary: Switchgrass shows promise as a high biomass bioenergy feedstock. The genetic diversity within lowland switchgrass is little understood. This diversity is useful in breeding and in making selections for inbreds to be used in high yielding hybrid culltivars. Sugarcane breeding would benefit from genetic and genomic research, but is hindered by complex genomes. A genetic fingure printing method know as amplified fragment length polymorphisms was used to estimate genetic diversity within individual plants taken from with four well known lowland switchgrass cultivars. Results indicated that there was high diversity within lowland switchgrass cultivars with the cultivar 'Alamo' having the highest and 'Performer' the lowest. Genetic distance was calculated and 'Alamo' and 'Cimarron' had the lowest and Alamo and Kanlow the highest. These are useful tools that could be used by breeding programmes for switchgrass cultivar improvement to increase biomass for bioenegy output.

Technical Abstract: Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) has gained wider attention due to its recognition and use as a model herbaceous crop species for bioenergy production. Genetic diversity information in lowland switchgrass cultivars can help to specify cultivars to be used in the breeding programs aiming at hybrid vigor. The objective of this research was to analyze genetic variation within and among five lowland switchgrass cultivars using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers. Shannon’s information index (I), expected heterozygosity (He), and unbiased expected heterozygosity (uHe) were computed separately for each of the five cultivars; analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) and Nei’s (1972) genetic distance calculation were performed in among variation data. AFLP polymorphisms indicated the presence of high genetic variation within lowland switchgrass cultivars with ‘Alamo’ exhibiting the highest genetic variation and ‘Performer’ the lowest. The Nei’s genetic diversity parameters revealed the lowest genetic distance between cultivars ‘Alamo’ and ‘Cimarron’ and the highest value between cultivars ‘Alamo’ and ‘Kanlow’. ‘Alamo’ and ‘Cimarron’ were clustered together while ‘BoMaster’, ‘Kanlow’, and ‘Performer’ were grouped into the other cluster. In addition, there were clusters with mixed genotypes as well. The findings of this research would be useful for future plant breeding and genetic improvement programs in lowland switchgrass.