Usefulness of AFLP markers to estimate varietal homogeneity of rapeseed inbred line varieties in the context of plant registration and protection

The ability of AFLP markers to assess the uniformity of rapeseed inbred line varieties was investigated in the context of plant registration. Three candidate varieties were chosen on a scale of morphological heterogeneity in the field. Thirty rows per variety were characterized with 4 primer combinations (173 markers). Principal component analysis and distribution of pairwise Rogers' distances between rows revealed exactly the same off types as those observed in the fields. The Nei's genetic diversity computed from the binary data matrix revealed the same diversity level as the one observed with morphological traits: the Nei's diversity value for the most homogeneous variety, a microspore-derived doubled haploid line, was 0.0011, whereas the value for the most heterogeneous variety was 0.0706. The similarity between the results with AFLP markers and morphological traits showed that AFLP markers associated with adapted data analysis tools (PCA, Nei's diversity index, genetic distance distribution) are very useful to assess the uniformity of candidate varieties in the context of plant registration.