Identification of broad bean cultivars based on isozyme patterns

Summary With the increasing rate of new cultivar production for different crop plants, there is great need for methods of identifying each cultivar discriminatingly. Starch gel electrophoresis was employed to study the differences between the esterase and cathodal peroxidase isozyme patterns of 40 broad bean (Vicia faba L.) cultivars. A total of 10 and 17 medium to darkly stained bands were obtained for esterase and peroxidase systems, respectively. Bands from each enzyme system could be gropuped into three zones. Bands belonging to zone 1 of esterase (E₁) and zones 2 and 3 of peroxidase (P₂ and P₃) were quite distinct, stained intensely, and were especially useful for identification purposes.The differences in banding patterns among cultivars of the same origin were as great as those of cultivars of unrelated origin. A large proportion of the cultivars could be completely differentiated using both of the isozyme systems. There were no bands present in either enzyme system which were common to all cultivars.