Objective: To explore the phenotypic characteristics and the genetic diversity of cultivated Eucommia ulmoides from Guizhou Province.
Methods: The genetic diversity of cultivated Eucommia ulmoides in Guizhou Province was analyzed by phenotypic traits and start condon targeted polymorphism(SCoT)markers.
Results: The phenotypic diversity index of the number of buds on neonatal branch was the highest, which was 2.0638, and the number of blades on neonatal branch was the lowest,which was 1.7084. By data obtained, 40 cultivated samples of Eucommia ulmoides in Guizhou Province could be divided into 4 groups. A total of 76 bands were produced by 10 primers, among which 50 bands were polymorphic bands, and the percentage of polymorphic bands was 65.79%. The average value of Nei's genetic diversity index (H) was 0.1937, Shannon's information index (I) was 0.2832, Genetic differentiation coefficient (Gst) was 0.1733, and the gene flow (Nm) among populations was 2.3848. Cluster analysis based on genetic identity indicated that 4 populations could be divided into 2 groups.
Conclusion: Genetic diversity of cultivated populations of Eucommia ulmoides in Guizhou Province had little differences. The genetic differentiation within populations was bigger than that among the populations. The high level of gene flow among populations was beneficial to extension of Eucommia ulmoides. The phenotypic cluster was similar to the SCoT cluster, the two classification results were significantly correlated with geographic position,which can providing a good foundation for the identification of Eucommia ulmoides germplasms.