Abstract

Banana and plantain are monocotyledonous herbs in the genus Musa (Musa spp.) and grown globally due to their diverse uses as export income, food and fiber. Banana is also grown widely in Ethiopia; however, the crop attracted very limited research attention and has little genetic information available. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to assess the genetic diversity and population structure of banana genotypes using 14 SSR markers. The genetic diversity of 96 banana genotypes obtained from Melkasa Agricultural Research center was analyzed using 14 SSR markers. A total of 187 alleles were identified, and the number of alleles per marker (Na) ranged from 6 to 21 with an average of 13.36. The range of polymorphic information content per marker was 0.52 to 0.93, with an average of 0.82. The results of phylogenetic analysis, principal coordinate analysis, and structure analysis showed an admixture of the populations indicating that the genotype grouping pattern did not exactly correspond to the genotypes' breeding history and genome composition. However, Clusters I to III from the phylogenetic analysis and K=3 from the population structure analysis confirmed the existence of 3 major groups among the genotypes as a whole. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed the presence of higher genetic variation within the population than between the population. Generally, genetic diversity and population structure obtained from this study provide inputs for the improvement of the crop.

Key words: Alleles, banana, genetic diversity, Musa spp., polymorphic information content, SSR markers.