Genetic Diversity Within a Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.) Germplasm Collection in China Using AFLP Markers

Jackfruit is cross-pollinated and mostly seed propagated, a wide range of variation exists in fruit quality. With the development of efficient vegetative propagation methods, excellent genotypes selected from these seed propagated seedlings will gradually replace other genotypes in jackfruit producing areas. In this study, genetic diversity of 50 jackfruit accessions from three provinces in China was analyzed based on amplified fragment length polymorphic (AFLP) markers. A total of 320 unambiguous bands were produced by eight primer combinations, and 65 (20.3%) of them were polymorphic. Genetic similarity coefficients ranged from 0 to 0.9841, with an average of 0.5000, indicating a moderate genetic diversity in this collection. The dendrogram derived by unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean algorithm (UPGMA) analysis revealed five groups, and no correlation between genetic relationship and geographical origin were found. Accessions of soft and firm flesh type were not clustered into distinct groups, neither could yearly bearing once, or twice fruit accessions. This study has provided useful information for collection and preservation of jackfruit germplasm worldwide.