Study on genetic diversity of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) genotypes using AFLP marker

One of the important species of fescue is tall fescue. The great role of this plant to produce forages and its wild adaptation is due to consider about tall fescue to produce forages, pasturages revival and soil protection. The aim of this study was to characterize 45 genotypes of this plant which were evaluated among 2 years on morphological characteristics using AFLP markers. Ten primer combinations amplified 209 polymorphic bands. The maximum band number (36) was produced by P-GAG/M-GAG and the minimum band number (9) as produced by P-ACA/M-CAA. Grouping the genotypes was done by clustering analysis of NT SYS-pc Ver. 2.02 software and using Jaccard’s genetic similarity coefficients. The Maximum polymorphism information content (PIC) was found in P-GAC/M-CAA. The production of many bands and obtained high polymorphism suggest that AFLP marker is an efficient tool for identification of genetic relationships among different genotypes of forage plants.