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Abstract
Maize or corn is a plant belonging to the family Poaceae and is one of the most important cereal crops worldwide as human nutrient, a basic element of animal feed and raw material for manufacture of many industrial products. Maize is the oldest plant to have a fully established gene map with the basic genome consisting of 10 chromosomes and is an excellent plant for the detection of genotoxins, mutagenic and clastogenic substances in the environment. In the present study, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to assess genetic diversity of the maize genotypes. Five arbitrary random primers were used to determine RAPD polymorphism in the set of twenty maize genotypes. Amplification of genomic DNA of 20 genotypes, using RAPD analysis, yielded 35 fragments, with an average of 7.00 polymorphic fragments per primer. Number of amplified fragments ranged from 5 (OPD-07) to 8 (OPF-14 and SIGMA-D-01), with the size of amplicons ranging from 150 to 2500 bp. The polymorphic information content (PIC) value ranged from 0.723 (OPD-07) to 0.862 (OPF-14), with an average of 0.799 and index diversity (DI) value varied from 0.725 (OPD-07) to 0.865 (OPF-14) with an average of 0.805. The dendrogram based on hierarchical cluster analysis using UPGMA algorithm was prepared. First cluster contained two maize genotypes Bučiansky Konsky Zub (SK) and Moldavskaja (SUN). Cluster two was divided into two main cluster 2a and 2b. Main cluster 2a contained genotype Dnepropetrovskaja (SUN) and main cluster 2b was divided into two subclustrov 2ba and 2bb. RAPD markers are useful in the assessment of maize diversity, the detection of duplicate sample in genotypes collection, and the selection of a core collection to enhance the efficiency of genotypes management for use in maize breeding and conservation.