Abstract:
Grain size and weight determine crop yield in cereals, whereas in rice grain size and shape is major attribute to identify market value and also used for classifying rice genotypes. Rice germplasm collection and knowledge of genetic diversity are required for variety improvement. Molecular markers provide powerful tool for identification of genetic variation and mapping of gene/ QTLs. There are a lot of gene/QTLs were identified by different groups on chromosome 3 and 7 controlling grain length. Clustering based on grain length divided the 48 accessions into two major clusters with some contradiction. Genetic relationships among the 48 rice accessions were determined based on allelic diversity using Power Marker tree, structure analyses and PCA using 51 SSR markers located on chromosome 3 and chromosome 7. Twodimensional PCA scaling and power marker tree analysis showed high-level of differentiation between Basmati and indica rice accessions and divide these rice accessions in two distinct clusters.
