Effectiveness of molecular markers for improving grain quality in Iranian rice

Grain and cooking qualities in rice are measured by several physical and chemical traits, each of them controlled by several genes. Molecular markers have become fast and reliable tools for screening genotypes for grain quality. However, As different populations may carry different genes, the efficacy of previously developed markers in new populations should be tested. In order to assess the effectiveness of molecular markers in predicting grain quality in Iranian rice genotypes, a total of 38 genotypes from three different backgrounds were fingerprinted by 9 grain quality specific molecular markers and 10 laboratory traits. A total of 31 alleles were detected with an average of 3.1 alleles per locus and the polymorphic information content values ranged from 0.245 to 0.74. Cluster analysis based on molecular markers divided the rice genotypes into three major clusters and effectively differentiated between various genotypes. However, the dendrogram based on the common set of qualitative traits didn't succeed in discriminating between original groups. There were significant associations between molecular markers and quality traits except for milling factor. However, these associations weren't necessarility specific to their supposed traits. Therefore, association of markers developed in other rice populations, specially those developed in Japonioca populations should be tested prior to application in Iranian rice marker assisted breeding programs.