Genotypic variation of Cunninghamia lanceolata revealed by phenotypic traits and SRAP markers

The success of a tree breeding program largely depended on the available genetic variability of the germplasms. Our present study aimed to assess the phenotypic variation and DNA variability using sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers among 50 Cunninghamia lanceolata (Chinese fir) genotypes. Extensive phenotypic variations (p < 0.05 or 0.01) were found for all the growth and wood property traits (height, diameter at breast height, stem volume, and wood basic density, hygroscopicity, heart-wood ratio, tracheid length, tracheid diameter and tracheid length-diameter ratio) with coefficients of variation spanning from 6.8 to 31.3%. At the DNA level, thirty-five SRAP primer combinations produced 498 bands with 89.4% polymorphism across genotypes; moreover, the Nei's gene diversity was detected to be ranged between 0.204 and 0.373 (mean = 0.279), while the Shannon's Information Index stretched from 0.324 to 0.555 with an average value of 0.427. Significance (p < 0.01) of the variability of SRAP polymorphism among genotypes was further demonstrated by AMOVA. These results indicated a relatively high level of genetic diversity in genotypes. The SRAP' dendrogram additionally revealed that these genotypes could be split into 7 clusters with higher discriminating capacity over that of phenotype. Notably, a total of 99 statistically significant (p < 0.05) marker-trait associations related to the growth and wood property traits were identified. These marker-trait associations corresponded to 77 different SRAP markers with R-2 (percentage of the phenotypic variation explained by marker) ranging from 8.3 to 26.4%.