AFLP Analyses of Genetic Divergence in Indian Potato Varieties

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) has a narrow genetic base due to limited parental diversity, posing challenges for crop improvement and stress resilience. Molecular marker techniques like AFLP offer a powerful approach to assess genetic diversity and support effective breeding strategies in potato. The objective of this study was to assess genetic diversity among Indian potato cultivar using AFLP markers. Twenty commercial Indian potato varieties analysed using semi-automated AFLP revealed moderately wide genetic base (similarity index range 0.54-0.74). Three AFLP primer pairs analyzed (MseI CAG x EcoRI ACT-FAM, MseI CAG x EcoRI AAC-NED, MseI CAG x EcoRI ACG-JOE) amplified a total of 346 alleles of which 96 were highly informative, 19 unique and 6 were monomorphic alleles. On average there were 163 alleles per genotype, ranging from 136 in Gulabia to 215 alleles in Kufri Chipsona2. Dendrogram analysis revealed four clusters with three microclusters with single variety each (Kufri Sindhuri, Kufri Chipsona2 and Kufri Dewa), and a megacluster comprising of rest all cultivars studied. Within this megacluster, a separate sub-cluster was represented by varieties released during 1958-1971, from Solanum demissum, R-gene-derived late blight resistance programme. In 2D PCO scatter plot, four varieties (Kufri Sindhuri; Kufri Chipsona2; Kufri Dewa and Kufri Safed) were very distinct from rest defined by first component. Kufri Safed derived from landrace Phulwa (S. tuberosum ssp. andigena), was distinct along both components of scatter plot analysis. In addition, neotubersum cultivars, Kufri Chipsona1, Kufri Kanchan, Kufri Anand, Kufri Swarna and landrace Gulalbia also exhibited significant divergence. Overall, the late blight resistance programme varieties showed narrow genetic base, while most of the recent neotubersum cultivars and those of ssp. andigena landraces showed higher diversity.