Abstract
Bulked Segregant Analysis (BSA) was used to identify molecular markers associated with drought tolerance in onion. F2 mapping population resulting from a cross between AN-650 (drought susceptible) and AK-649 (drought tolerant) onion genotypes were phenotyped based on the bulb weight, carbon isotope discrimination, leaf area, relative water content and wilting index to identify drought tolerant and drought susceptible F2 plants. BSA was done on the tolerant and susceptible DNA bulks using 300 Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and 22 Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) primers. Four markers amplified with RAPD primers OPV-4, OPAO-15 and OPAN-18 were found associated with moisture stress tolerance. The markers identified in this study would allow implementation of marker assisted selection for large scale screening of onion genotypes and segregating populations for drought tolerance.
