Application of ITAP-PCR Techniques to Assess the Genetic Variability of Selected Cultivars of Winter Triticale (× Triticosecale Wittmack)

The increasing use of triticale (× Triticosecale Wittmack) indicates that its position on the seed market is constantly strengthening; therefore, the research on its genetic variability is necessary to improve breeding process of new cultivars. The aim of the study was to assess the possibility of using the ITAP-PCR technique to analyse the genetic similarity of nine cultivars of winter triticale cultivated in Poland. Primers designed on the basis of 6 DNA transposon sequences commonly found in cereal plant genomes were used for the study. The average polymorphism rate in the genotypes used in the study was determined as 95.24%; in total, 75 bands were obtained, of which 73 were polymorphic. The PIC value ranged between 0.27 and 0.44, and was highest for the Hamlet primer. The lowest PIC value was observed for the Mutator primer. The average DI value was 0.34, MI - 4.08, AEI - 12.17 and IPI - 4.40. SI ranged from 36.7% to 1.7%. A dendrogram was created according to the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA), which in terms of genetic similarity divided the analysed winter triticale cultivars into two main similarity groups.We confirmed that ITAP technique of transposon-based marker is efficient and fast method to detect genetic variability between different winter triticale cultivars. In addition, the presence of analyzed transposon families in hexaploid triticale has not been studied earlier.