Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum.) is an important forage crop in tropical areas although little is known about its genome information, and few molecular markers have been developed for this species. This work aimed to check the viability of cross‐species amplification of microsatellite markers between pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) and Napier grass and to evaluate the genetic diversity among Napier grass germplasm accessions. Fifty‐four microsatellite markers previously described in pearl millet were tested against Napier grass, and 30 markers (55.5%) showed successful cross‐amplification. From them, 18 microsatellite markers were selected to study the genetic diversity in the Embrapa Active Germplasm Bank of Napier Grass (Embrapa‐BAGCE). A total of 180 alleles were identified by these selected microsatellite markers in 107 Napier grass accessions and four pearl millet samples. The average similarity coefficient (Dice) calculated among the Embrapa‐BAGCE accessions was 0.651, ranging from 0.254 to 1.0. Some accessions showed similarity coefficients equal to one, indicating that they have common progenitors or that they might be the same accessions with different denomination. To our knowledge, this work is the first to describe microsatellite markers in Napier grass and represents a significant advance regarding the use of molecular markers in this species.
ABSTRACT. The grasses of the genus Brachiaria account for 80% of the cultivated pastures in Brazil. Despite its importance for livestock production, little information is available for breeding purposes. Embrapa has a population of B. ruziziensis from different regions of Brazil, representing most of existing variability. This population was used to initiate an improvement program based on recurrent selection. In order to assist the genetic improvement program, we estimated the molecular variability among 93 genotypes of Embrapa's collection using ISSR (inter-simple sequence repeat) markers. DNA was extracted from the leaves. Twelve ISSR primers generated 89 polymorphic bands in the 93 genotypes. The number of bands identified by each primer ranged from two to 13, with a mean of 7.41. Cluster analysis revealed a clearly distinct group, containing most of the B. ruziziensis genotypes apart from the outgroup genotypes. Genetic similarity coefficients ranged from 0.0 to 0.95, with a mean of 0.50 and analysis of molecular variance indicated higher variation within (73.43%) than among species (26.57%). We conclude that there is a high genetic diversity among these B. ruziziensis genotypes, which could be explored by breeding programs.
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