Molecular Characterization and Genetic Similarity of Three Sugarcane Genotypes
Abstract
Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) is the most important sugar-producing crop in the world (Heinz, 1987). In Egypt, sugarcane has been planted since 1850. It is cultivated in four governorates i.e. Aswan, Quena, Sohag and El-Minia. Modern sugarcane cultivars are complex polyploidy, which may contain over 100 chromosomes (Heinz, 1987; Roach and Daniels, 1987).
The Egyptian germplasm contain local genotypes and genotypes imported from different breeding stations around the world. Genotypes G.T. 54-9 and G 84-47 were developed and released in Egypt and Phil 8013 cutting was imported and evaluated under Egyptian conditions. Many investigators studied these genotypes under different environmental con- ditions (El-Sogheir et al., 2006; Mohamed and El-Taib, 2007). Genotypes G.T. 54-9, G 84-47 and Phil 8013 differed in their genetic potential for yield and its compo- nents (stalk height, diameter and weight) as well as stalk number, Brix, sucrose%, sugar recovery% and sugar yield (ton/fed). Some genotypes significantly exceeded the check variety in some traits but were lower in other traits (El-Sogheir et al., 2006; Mohamed and El-Taib, 2007).
Molecular biology provides additional technology integrated into conventional plant breeding in order to promise faster genetic gains. These new techniques are not intended to replace conventional breeding methods, but rather to facilitate and supplement crop improvement. Molecular screening procedures have yielded great benefits for many sugarcane breeding programs, with regards to disease testing by isozyme and protein analyses; and by DNA markers (Paran et al., 1991; Leon et al., 2001; Alvi et al., 2008; Ahmed and Khaled, 2009).
The RAPD or randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (Williams et al., 1990) technique, which is used in this study, allows random amplification of DNA sequences throughout the entire genome and, therefore, is very convenient for genetic diversity. RAPD markers have been successfully used to measure genetic relationships of sugarcane, Saccharum spp (Leon et al., 2001). Moreover, RAPD markers have proved useful in determining genetic relationships among sugarcane cultivars (Leon et al., 2001), in determining genetic difference between resistant and susceptible sugarcane genotypes (Alvi et al., 2008) and in identifying hybrids in a “Saccharum officinarum × Erianthus fulvus’’ cross (Zhang et al., 2008).
The aim of the present work was to obtain molecular profiles and determine the quality traits of three sugarcane genotypes used in breeding program of the Sugar Crops Research Institute (SCRI) in order to maximize cane and sugar yields/feddan (fed = 4200 m2).
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