Genetic Diversity of Coffee Genotypes Using Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) Markers

Abstract

Coffee plays an important role in the global economy, human health and society. It is one of the major cash crops constituting the backbone of the Nigerian economy before the emergence and re-emergence of petroleum oil. Molecular markers are reliable and valuable tool for analyzing polymorphism, screening and selection of desirable genotypes in breeding programs. The study aimed at determining the genetic diversity among coffee genotypes. Fifty genotypes of coffee (Coffea spp) collected from Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN) germplasm were assessed using 12 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The findings revealed that polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged between 0.311 and 0.882 with an average of 0.545. The gene diversity (0.602) was high and the Unweighted Pair Group Method of Analysis using arithmetic averages (UPGMA) dendrogram grouped the genotypes into four major clusters with subclusters. The results revealed high levels of polymorphism indicating genetic diversity and confirm uniqueness among the coffee genotypes.