Analysis of genetic diversity among Indian short-day onion (Allium cepa L.) cultivars using RAPD markers.

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to estimate genetic diversity among 24 cultivars of short-day onions. Total genomic DNA was extracted and subjected to RAPD analysis using 90 arbitrary 10-mer primers. Of these, 15 primers were selected which yielded 137 bands, 91.24% of which were polymorphic. None of the primers produced a unique banding pattern for each cultivar. RAPD data were used to calculate a Squared-Euclidian Distance matrix which revealed a minimum genetic distance between cultivars 'AFLR-722' and 'PBR-140', and a maximum genetic distance between cultivars 'PBR-139' and 'A.Kalyan', and 'MS-48' and 'A.Kalyan'. Based on the distance matrix, cluster analysis was done using a minimum variance algorithm. The dendrogram thus generated, based on Ward's method, grouped the 24 onion cultivars into two major clusters. The first cluster consisted of cultivars from the northern region, and the second of cultivars from the southern region of India. The present study shows that there is high diversity among the onion cultivars selected and indicates the potential of RAPD markers for identification and maintenance of onion germplasm for crop improvement purposes.