A Look into Genetic Diversity of Enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman) Using Transferable Microsatellite Sequences of Banana in Ethiopia

Microsatellite sequences are one of the best options for the study of genetic diversity in plant species. However, because of the high cost of their development, it is important to test whether existing sequences from related species can be exploited. Enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman) has remained largely unimproved partly due to lack of its genetic information, thus there is a need to study the genetic diversity of current accessions and build on it to develop new cultivars/varieties with desired agronomic traits. Transferability of 71 SSR loci from banana (Musa accuminata) to enset was investigated using 220 Enset accessions. Among the 71 SSRs tested, 12 (16.9%) were successfully transferable to enset. Eleven (16.9%) of these were used to examine the diversity of the 220 enset accessions that had been collected from eight different zones in Ethiopia.