Revealing the genetic diversity of teosinte introgressed maize population by morphometric traits and microsatellite markers

The present study comprised of 100 lines derived from teosinte x maize (DI-103) hybridization, which were evaluated for morphological as well as molecular diversity. The slight difference in GCV and PCV estimates for all the traits except grain yield per plant reflects genotypic variation without much influence of environmental factors. The high heritability coupled with high genetic advance for most of the traits elucidated the presence of additive gene effect in the governance of these traits. Genotyping with 76 SSR markers resulted in 377 alleles with an average 5 alleles per marker loci. Wider polymorphic information content (PIC) range from 0.29 to 0.86, reflects higher allelic variation and wide distribution in the population. The average gene diversity, heterozygosity, major allele frequency, and minor allele frequency were 0.48, 0.85, 0.58, and 0.48 respectively. Cluster analysis allocated 102 lines including, maize inbred (DI-103) and teosinte-parviglumis into 14 genetic groups which indicate uniqueness of lines in terms of molecular makeup. Linkage analysis using SSR data revealed ten linkage groups in maize. Maximum allelic contribution from maize (65.2%) and teosinte (59.4%) parent was recorded in MT-26 and MT-19 respectively. With 14 and 3 heterozygous segments MT-44 and MT-26 reflected maximum (37.5%) and minimum (2.4%) heterozygosity respectively. The Maximum recombination (52%) was recorded in the case of MT-40, whereas, the line MT-81 expressed the least recombination (30%). The results reflected a quite significant variability among derived lines and governed by introgression of teosinte alleles, which can be visualized by graphical genotype.