RAPD analysis of genetic variability in Indian scented rice germplasm (Oryza sativa L.)

A set of 18 accessions from an Indian scented rice (Oryza sativa L.) collec tion was subjected to random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. Pol ymerase chain reaction (PCR) with 10 arbitrary 10-mer oligonucleotide prime rs, applied to the 18 accessions, produced a total of 144 different marker bands of which 95.1 per cent were polymorphic. The size range of the amplif ied DNAs was mostly between 0.5 kbp and 4 kbp. Thus, with the selected prim ers sufficient polymorphism could be detected to allow identification of in dividual accessions. Visual examination of electrophoresis gels and analysi s of banding patterns confirmed that many of the scented rice varieties und er cultivation with similar names are genetically quite different. A dendro gram displaying the relative genetic similarities between the accessions sh owed a range of 25 to 77.5 per cent similarity. The RAPD analysis offered a rapid and reliable method for the estimation of variability between differ ent accessions which could be utilized by the breeders for further improvem ent of the scented rice genotypes.