Genetic finger printing of salt- and drought-tolerant cotton cultivars (Gossypium hirsutum) by IRAP-REMAP and SRAP molecular markers

With growth in size of human population, production of salt and drought-tolerant cotton cultivars with good agronomic and yield characteristics is an important task. Inter-specific and intra-specific hybridization is one of the main approaches to produce elite cultivars in cotton. Therefore, to choose proper parental genotypes for hybridization, it is necessary to study the genetic and agronomic variability within the cultivars with high salt and drought-tolerance. Therefore, the present study used IRAP, REMAP and SRAP molecular markers to illustrate genetic variability in cotton genotypes (Gossypium hirsutum) and to group the genotypes based on genetic affinity. The results revealed that some of the genotypes had private bands, which can be correlated with their salt- or drought-tolerant characteristics. Network and STRUCTURE analyses of molecular data grouped the genotypes with genetic affinity, while some genotypes differed from the others. Therefore, we suggest different crossing combinations between these groups based on genetic distance and desirable agronomic characteristics within salt- and drought- tolerant cottons. In general, IRAP, REMAP and SRAP molecular screening of the cotton genotypes seems to be an efficient, low-cost and rapid method for genetic fingerprinting purposes in large germplasm.