Assessment of genetic diversity at molecular level in mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek)

Mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek) also known as green gram is an important food legume crop and provides an inexpensive source of dietary protein. In this study, genetic diversity in 29 elite mungbean genotypes was assessed using mungbean SSR markers. Total 30 SSR markers (15 genomic SSR and 15 EST-SSR) were used in the study and 19 SSR markers (10 EST-SSR and 9 genomic SSR) were found polymorphic among the mungbean genotypes. Each polymorphic SSR markers yielded 2 to 3 alleles and total 44 alleles were generated with an average of 2.3 alleles/locus. Polymorphic information content of the SSR markers ranged from 0.07 to 0.61 with an average of 0.27. SSR markers showed high discrimination power and a combination of only six SSR markers was sufficient to distinguish 27 genotypes out of 29 mungbean genotypes. Cluster analysis grouped the 29 mungbean genotypes into three main clusters and genotypes were mostly grouped based on their pedigree. Result of Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCO) was comparable with the cluster analysis. This study report that cultivated mungbean has a narrow genetic base and emphasizes the need to explore and exploit additional source of genetic variation in mungbean breeding programs.