Genetic variations in clonally propagated bermudagrass cultivars Identified by DNA fingerprinting

Clonally propagated bermudagrass constitute a major source of turf in the Southern United States. Most of parents for the clonally propagated bermudagrasses were initially introduced from other countries at some time in the past. Few of the cultivars were introduced from China by researchers in the Oklahoma State Agricultural Experimental Station. The objective of this DAF project was to determine the degree of genetic relatedness of these newintroduced Chinese cultivars with the existing vegetative cultivars commonly grown in the United States by using DNA fingerprinting technique (DAF). A total of 89 bands were scored using four DAF primers. The cluster analysis was able to distinguish all the varieties studied into 6 distinct groups indicating the existence of wide genetic variations in the cultivars examined. Tifton 10 showed near similarity coefficient to the Chinese cultivars, the cultivar Tifton 10 was directly increased by the plant collection in Shanghai China by Glenn W. Burton. The closer grouping of Tifton 10 with the recently introduced Chinese accessions indicates the existence of similarity of germplasm within China. The cultivar Tifsport a radiation induced mutant from ‘Midiron’ bermudagrass and Tifway,were the most closely related varieties with an SC of 0.94. The two cultivars Tifsport and Tifway which are morphologically undistinguishable showed a very similar banding pattern indicating these cultivars to be nearly identical. The most distinct cultivars in this study were Midlawn and Quickstand which showed a SC of 0.72.