Genetic relationships of gladiolus cultivars inferred from fluorescence based AFLP markers

Gladiolus is one of the important commercial flowers with a large number of cultivars. However, genetic relationships among its genotypes have not been reported. This study analyzed genetic relatedness of 54 gladiolus cultivars using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers. A total of 24 AFLP primer pairs with three samples were initially screened, from which 9 primer sets that showed clear scorable and highly polymorphic bands were selected for AFLP reactions. Fluorescence-labeled amplification products were subjected to electrophoresis and then analyzed using an automated sequencer. A dendrogram was constructed by the unweighted pair group method using the arithmetic average (UPGMA). The number of AFLP fragments generated per primer set ranged from 10 to 151 with fragment sizes varying from 50 to 450 bp. A total of 660 AFLP fragments were detected, of which 658 (99.70%) were polymorphic. All the primers except E-AGG/M-CTA displayed 100% polymorphism. All cultivars were clearly differentiated by their AFLP profiles. The AFLP data were compared with previously obtained RAPD data and combined to generate a common dendrogram. The first cluster was dominated with indigenously bred cultivars while the second was dominated with exotic cultivars. This shows that most of the exotic cultivars as well as indigenous cultivars are closely related with each other. However, two indigenous cultivars viz., Pusa Suhagin and Pusa Archana share genetic similarity with exotic cultivars. Among the genotypes selected for the investigation, Pusa Gunjan was identified as the most distinct genotype. The AFLP markers developed will help future Gladiolus cultivar identification, germplasm conservation and new cultivar development. The assessed genetic relationships among gladiolus cultivars may enhance the efficiency of breeding program by selecting desirable parents with reduced breeding cycle.