Genetic Variation in Iranian Rice (Oryza Sativa L ) Genotypes Using Physiological traits and SSR markers

In order to assess genetic diversity, the number of 38 Iranian rice cultivars were evaluated using 15 agronomic traits and 14 SSR markers. Rice genotypes were cultivated in a Randomized Complete Block Design in a Research Farm located in Azadshahr in 2013. According to analysis of variance (ANOVA) genotypes showed a significant difference for all traits (P <0.01). Regression analysis showed that the weight of filled grains was correlated with panicle number and chlorophyll content and explained 93.5% of the filled grains weight variations. The highest and lowest content of polymorphic information was recorded in RM262 (0.81) and RM241 (0.33) respectively, the mean PIC was 0.51. The average Shannon index was 0.33. The genotypes were categorized according to morphological traits in three groups but based on molecular and chlorophyll data assigned to three and two groups, respectively. Among the microsatellite markers used in this study, the RM142 RM255, RM341, RM262 markers had a high degree of polymorphism. RM297, RM104, RM274 showed the most correlation with rice chlorophyll content, which can be promising in marker selection programs.