Twenty rice landraces from Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Arroz e Feijão (CNPAF), Brazil, were studied as to morphological traits, DNA markers revealed by RAPD technique and protein content. Assessed landraces were different Active Germplasm Bank (AGB) accessions comprising six groups of same common names. Similarity dendrograms based on morphological traits and DNA markers, revealed two groups, one of them, with 70% similarity, includes all accessions that had the term 'Lageado' in its common name. Dendrogram based on DNA markers further split the second group into two groups with different protein content. The results indicated that, in some cases, different accessions may actually represent the same germplasm. The 'Lageado" group deserves more detailed investigations due to its favorable agronomic characteristics and high yield.
Genetic divergence; germplasm; Oryza sativa
