Abbreviations: DFD, disc flower diameter; ID, inflorescence diameter; LLL, length of the longest lobe; NRF, number of ray florets; NTF, number of tubular florets; NTFL, number of tubular floret lobes; RFL, ray floret length; RFW, ray floret width; SL, style length; TFL, tubular floret length; TFL/SL, tubular floret length/style length; TFW, tubular floret width.
AbstractAn appreciation of the genetic diversity retained in the gene pool of anemone-type chrysanthemums is needed to drive further genetic improvement of this commercially important ornamental species. Here, a panel of 67 accessions was characterized with respect to both floral morphology, assessed using a set of 12 inflorescenceassociated traits, and to genotype, using sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) fingerprinting. Abundant variation and a high level of broad-sense heritability (>88%) were revealed for all traits except number of tubular floret lobes. Of the possible 66 pairwise inter-trait combinations, 37 proved to be significantly correlated.A principal component analysis of the trait data showed that the first four principal components explained ~78% of the variance; meanwhile a hierarchical clustering analysis revealed a number of discrete groups reflecting the various cultivated types, but was not predictive of provenance. The SRAP genotyping employed 22 primer combinations and generated 238 informative fragments. A moderately high level of the Jaccard's similarity coefficient (mean 0.67) was calculated for the examined panel. A hierarchical clustering analysis based on the genotypic data revealed four groups, which were clearly reflective of cultivated type; moreover, a comparison of the within-cluster means for each of the two key anemone-related traits-tubular floret length and tubular floret length/style length-showed that the genotype-based clusterings were associated with the anemone levels, albeit imperfectively. A principal coordinate analysis showed that the first two coordinates accounted for about 14% of the total variation. In summary, the present study adds new understanding of the genetic diversity present in the anemone-type chrysanthemum gene pool, and the findings will lay the foundation for implementing a genotype/phenotype association strategy to reveal the genetic and molecular basis of floral form in this valuable ornamental species.
K E Y W O R D Schrysanthemum, flower type, genetic diversity, molecular markers