Nineteen cashew accessions were analysed with 50 random primers, 12 ISSR primers and 6 AFLP primer pairs to compare the efficiency and utility of these techniques for detecting variation in cashew germplasm. Each marker system could discriminate between all of the accessions, albeit with varied efficiency of polymorphism detection. AFLP exhibited maximum discrimination efficiency with a genotype index of 1. The utility of each molecular marker technique, expressed as marker index, was estimated as a function of average band informativeness and effective multiplex ratio. Marker index was calculated to be more than 10 times higher in AFLP than in RAPD and ISSR. Similarity matrices were determined based on the data generated by molecular and morphometric analyses, and compared for congruency. AFLP displayed no correspondence with RAPD and ISSR. Correlation between ISSR and RAPD similarity matrices was low but significant (r = 0.63; p < 0.005). The similarity matrix based on morphometric markers exhibited no correlation with any of the molecular markers. AFLP, with its superior marker utility, was concluded to be the marker of choice for cashew genetic analysis.

Microsatellite markers are employed for genotyping of Basmati varieties and assaying purity of market samples. However, employment of diverse electrophoresis techniques across laboratories has resulted in inconsistent allele sizes, creating doubts about the suitability of the assay. This study evaluated agarose gel electrophoresis, slab gel electrophoresis, and capillary electrophoresis techniques for their efficiency in the detection and quantification of adulteration in Basmati samples. Comparative analysis across 8 microsatellite loci in 12 rice varieties demonstrated that the capillary electrophoresis method showed less error (+/-0.73 bp) in the estimation of allele sizes compared to slab gel (+/-1.59 bp) and agarose gel (+/-8.03 bp) electrophoretic methods. Capillary electrophoresis showed greater reproducibility (<0.5 bp deviation) compared to slab gel (1 bp) and agarose (>3 bp) based methods. Capillary electrophoresis was significantly superior in quantification of the adulterant, with a mean error of +/-3.91% in comparison to slab gel (+/-6.09%). Lack of accuracy and consistency of the slab gel and agarose electrophoretic methods warrants the employment of capillary electrophoresis for Basmati rice purity assays.

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