A preliminary investigation on AFLP marker-wood density trait association in teak (Tectona grandis L. f.)

Association between 276 AFLP loci and wood density of 46 teak (Tectona grandis L. f.) genotypes was evaluated, confirming the genetic structure among the genotypes and significant (p < 0.01) linkage disequilibrium between 9.4% loci-pair. AFLP markers with Bayesian correction for inbreeding coefficient detected a low genetic structure vis-a-vis high genetic diversity (0.23) and high polymorphism (57.41 ± 9.62%). AMOVA allocated 26.34% variation among the populations and 73.65% variation among the genotypes with FST = 0.16. The wood density with 8.71% variation displayed significant normal distribution. The careful control of statistical estimates incorporating Q and K to avoid the false discovery resulted in four AFLP loci significantly associated with the wood density trait. This is the first report dealing with marker-trait association in teak against the scarcity of background genomic information in this species. The AFLP markers associated with the wood density trait may be developed into STS markers for marker-assisted selection and breeding for genetic improvement of the species.