Assessment of genetic diversity in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) germplasm using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP)

AFLP technique was applied to assess genetic diversity among 44 common bean accessions that included 6 exotic accessions, 15 Indian land races and 23 released varieties. Eight AFLP primer pairs were used that produced 820 products of which 698 were polymorphic (85.12%). Wide variations were observed among all the accessions for the number of amplification products, percent polymorphism and average polymorphism information content (PIC). The Jaccard's similarity indices (J) based on the AFLP profiles were subjected to UPGMA cluster analysis. The dendrogram generated revealed seven major groups. Seventeen out of 23 released varieties were restricted to clusters VI and VII. The value of r = 0.934 in Mantel's test for cophenetic corrlelation applied to the cluster analysis indicated the high fitness of the accessions to a group. The germplasm used in the present study had narrow genetic base, although moderate to high genetic diversity was observed. The details of diversity analysis and the potential use of Indian common bean accessions in common bean breeding programme are provided in the present study.