Adetumbi, J.A.

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Estimates of genetic purity of seed based on morphological characters commonly used in most part of the Sub-saharan Africa requires complete growing cycle of the plant species, thus time and resources intensive. This study examined the use of SDS-PAGE as a faster and concise means of estimating genetic purity of seed devoid of environmental influence. Sodium Dodecyl-Sulphate – Poly-Acrylamide Gel Electrophoresis analysis was conducted on single seed of three replicates each of samples of four inbred parents and five maize hybrids sourced from Research Institute and Agro-dealer respectively. The frequencies of occurrence of the bands and similarity indices were calculated from the electrophoretic profiles scores which were later subjected to cluster analysis for dendogram grouping. Results revealed 14 types and a total of 212 protein bands. Minimum genetic similarity index (0.67) was recorded among seeds of KU 1414-STR while the highest genetic similarity distance (2.10) was recorded among seeds of Oba Super 2 collected from Agro-dealer. SDSPAGE detected genetic variability among maize seed samples as clusters of maize samples that are genetically similar were clear. SDS-PAGE procedure could be adopted as fast and reliable tool devoid of environmental influence for genetic purity analysis in crops. Keywords: Genetic purity, Maize seed, SDS-PAGE, Protein Profiles, Nigeria.