Rice of Northeast India harbor rich genetic diversity as measured by SSR markers and Zn/Fe content

Abstract

Background: Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most important crops of the world and a major staple food for half of the World's human population. The Northeastern (NE) region of India lies in the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot and about 45% of the total flora of the country is found in the region. Local rice cultivars from different states of NE India were analyzed for genetic diversity and population structure using microsatellite markers, and their zinc and iron content. Results: A total of 149 bands were detected using twenty-two microsatellite markers comprising both random and trait-linked markers, showing 100% polymorphism and high value of expected heterozygosity (0.6311) and the polymorphism information content (0.5895). Nali Dhan cultivar of Arunachal Pradesh possessed the highest genetic diversity (0.3545) among studied populations while Moirangphou Khonganbi of Manipur exhibited the lowest genetic diversity (0.0343). The model-based population structure revealed that all the studied 65 rice cultivars were grouped into two clusters. Cluster I was represented by 36 cultivars and cluster II by 29 cultivars. Badalsali cultivar of Assam possessed the highest Zn content (75.8 μg/g) and Kapongla from Manipur possessed the lowest (17.98 μg/g). The highest and the lowest Fe content was found in Fazu (215.62 μg/g) and Idaw (11.42 μg/g) of Mizoram. Conclusion: The result suggested rice cultivars of NE India possessing high genetic diversity (Nali dhan), high Zn (Badalsali) and Fe (Fazu) content can be useful as a source of germplasm for future rice improvement programs.