Estimation of genetic variation in Cynodon dactylon accessions using the ISSR technique

Genetic variation in 55 accessions of Cynodon dactylon was estimated using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. The plant materials used in this study originated from 17 countries. A total of 236 ISSR fragments were generated with 14 primers. Fragment sizes ranged from 200 to 3000 bp. All scorable bands were polymorphic in nature and none of the primers used produced monomorphic bands, indicating a high level of genetic variation in this grass. The accessions were found to be clustered into eight major groups through the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic averages. Genetic similarity coefficients (GSC) among the 55 accessions ranged from 0.52 to 0.95. The results clearly indicate that a high level of variation exists in Cynodon accessions. This study shows that the ISSR technique is a reliable tool for differentiating Cynodon accessions and for determining the genetic relationships among them.