Microsatellite markers associated with blast resistance genes were used to study the polymorphism and genetic relationship among 20 Malaysian upland rice and four varieties from the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Collection. Among the 11 microsatellite markers used, 10 were polymorphic (90.91%). Only RM313 showed monomorphic pattern. The genetic distances
ranged from 0 to 0.833. The lowest genetic distance was found between Ambas and Babayau. The highest genetic distance was found between Kedinga and Gulfmont. The average genetic
distance is 0.478. A dendrogram generated using genetic distance classified all 24 rice samples into 15 clusters. However, there were no well defined groupings. Further research is needed to verify the existence of the blast resistance genes among these Malaysian upland rice samples.