Genetic diversity in a collection of Cucumis sativus L. assessed by RAPD and ISSR markers

The genetic diversity among 39 cucumber collections from Karnataka, India was assessed using 23 RAPD and 18 ISSR primers. A total of 309 bands were scored of which 147 (47.57 %) were polymorphic. The average number of bands per primer was 7.82 and an average number of polymorphic bands of 3.58 per primer. The primers UBC855 revealed the highest PIC (polymorphism information content) value of 0.49 followed by the primers UBC846, OPE13, OPC01 and OPR12 (0.48). The Jaccard’s similarity coefficients ranged from 0.36 to 0.84 and the first two principal components explained 53.33 % of the total variance. The UPGMA phenogram and the PCA (Principle component analysis) indicated that the populations formed five major clusters. CSC 83 (774 g per fruit) and CSC 71 (yellow skin) are considered to be the most important collections to be stressed for further breeding purpose. The available genetic resources of cucumber in Karnataka were characterized.