Analysis of global Napier grass (Cenchrus purpureus) collections reveals high genetic diversity among genotypes with some redundancy between collections

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Abstract Genetic diversity amongst genotypes of several Napier grass collections was analyzed and compared with the diversity in a set of open pollinated progeny plants. A total of 114,886 SNP and 46,293 SilicoDArT genome-wide markers were generated on 574 Napier grass genotypes. Of these, 89% of the SNP and 76% of the SilicoDArT markers were mapped onto the fourteen chromosomes of the Napier grass genome. For genetic diversity analysis, a subset of highly polymorphic and informative SNP markers, filtered using a maximum of 10% missing values, a minimum minor allele frequency of 5%, and a maximum linkage-disequilibrium value of 0.5, from those mapped across the Napier grass genome was used. Extensive genetic variability, with an average Nei’s genetic distance value of 0.23, was identified in the material. The genotypes clustered into three major and eleven sub-clusters with high levels of genetic variation contained both within (54%) and between (46%) clusters. However, we found that there was low to moderate genetic differentiation among the collections and some overlap and redundancy occurred between collections. The progeny plants were genetically diverse and diverged from the germplasm collections, with an average FST value of 0.08. The findings of this study offer useful information for Napier grass breeding strategies, enhancement of genetic diversity, and provide a guide for the management and conservation of the collections.

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