Diversity and geographical variations of germplasm resources of Armeniaca mandshurica

Aims Armeniaca mandshurica is an important species which serves the need of ornamental, wood and other economical uses.This species has been in wild or semi-wild state for a long time and few studies about this species have been conducted.This paper aimed to provide an important reference for the collection, evaluation and protection of germplasm resources of A. mandshurica. MethodsThe status of the germplasm resources in the main distribution area of A. mandshurica was investigated.In total, 47 typical sample trees from Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang Provinces were selected.For each tree, 22 quantitative traits and 7 qualitative traits were measured.The diversity of quantitative traits was represented by indicators such as coefficient of variation, and the diversity of qualitative traits was represented by indicators such as frequency distribution.Trend surface analysis was used to explore the geographical variation in the quantitative traits.A total of 115 pairs of SSR primers were used for PCR amplification for 47 A. mandshurica germplasms, and the genetic diversity of A. mandshurica germplasms was analyzed using genetic similarity coefficient.Germplasms were classified by cluster analysis based on phenotypic traits and SSR markers separately.Important findings High phenotypic diversity was found among different germplasms in A. mandshurica.The coefficients of variation (CV) of the 19 quantitative traits ranged from 9.40% to 55.98%.Among the 19 traits, twig length had the highest CV and kernel width had the lowest CV.