[01] Dughdugh Paul, Department of Botany, Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi, Makurdi, Nigeria. [02] Omoigui Lucky Osabuohien, Department of Plant Breeding and Seed Science, Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi, Makurdi, Nigeria. [03] Ugbaa Macsamuel Sesugh, Department of Plant Breeding and Seed Science, Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi, Makurdi, Nigeria. [04] Olasan Joseph Olalekan, Department of Botany, Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi, Makurdi, Nigeria. [05] Danmiagona Catherine, Department of Plant Breeding and Seed Science, Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi, Makurdi, Nigeria. [06] Adedzwa Kparevfa Daniel, Department of Biological Sciences, Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria.

Nowadays, breeders can specifically target traits for improvement and also enhance the overall efficiency of breeding program using molecular breeding approaches. Assessment of genetic diversity in groundnut through identification of polymorphic molecular markers is prerequisite to the identification of target markers to traits of economic importance for integration of molecular breeding in groundnut improvement. Assessment of genetic diversity in groundnut through identification of polymorphism at the molecular level will also help breeders in judicious selection of genotypes that show DNA polymorphism to generate genetically diverse breeding populations and facilitate the identification of valuable germplasm for use in linkage mapping and genetic enhancement of specific traits in groundnut. The objective of the study therefore was to identify genetic polymorphism among selected groundnut genotypes using SSR markers. Five (5) Simple Sequence Repeat markers were used to identify genetic polymorphism among 40 groundnut genotypes. DNA was extracted from leaf tissue of one month old plants using FTA PlantSaver cards. Extracted DNA was amplified via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in a 25 μL mixture (final volume). A 10μL of the final PCR product was electrophoresed on a 2% agarose gel with ethidium bromide staining. The ethidium bromide-stained gel was visualized on an UV transilluminator and photographed using a digital camera for binary scoring of ‘1’ and ‘0’ to indicate the presence and absence of bands respectively. Out of six amplified bands produced by five SSR primers (AH3, AH4-101, GM694, TC3G03, and S118), four were found to be polymorphic (66.7%). Average number of bands and polymorphic bands per primer were 1.6 and 0.8 respectively. Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) ranged from 0.00 (GM694 and TC3G03) to 0.78 (AH4-101). Resolving power ranged from 0.00 to 2.19. Euclidean distance revealed two main clusters (A and B) and four sub-clusters. Genotypes TMV-2, ICGV 91328 and ICGV-IS-89767 were singly clustered. ICGV-SM-12991 and JL-24 clustered in pairs as well as ICGV 94309 and ICGV 00068 making them the most divergent genotypes. The divergent genotypes can be explored by breeders to capture wide variability for groundnut improvement programs. The information from the study will be useful to taxonomists.

Polymorphism Information Content, Resolving Power, Clusters, Euclidean Distance, Variability

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