Genetic diversity within Australian wheat breeding programs based on molecular and pedigree data

124 wheat cultivars and breeding lines were screened with 19 microsatellite (SSR) loci generating 160 scorable bands which were used to construct a genetic distance (GD) matrix. A distance matrix based on coefficient of parentage (COP) scores was also generated for the cultivars for which good pedigree records were available. The SSR and COP data for 101 of the wheat cultivars were compared with genetic distance scores obtained using 1898 scorable restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) bands previously generated. Phylograms were generated based on the SSR, RFLP, combined SSR and RFLP and COP data. The standardised Mantel's Z test showed that the distance matrices generated from all of the data sets were significantly correlated. Bootstrap analysis showed that, although the SSR and RFLP data were correlated, a large number of SSR loci are required for determining robust genetic relationships between large numbers of cultivars. In addition, accurate pedigree records are needed to determine genetic relatedness using COP. The molecular data were also used to determine the level of genetic variability within breeding programs and to assess the impact of the introduction of semidwarf and other germplasm. The results showed that the level of genetic diversity in Australian wheat cultivars has increased over time and that in particular, the introduction of semidwarf germplasm resulted in an increase in the overall diversity.