Purpose The aim was to provide the basic information for molecular breeding of alfalfa.
Method Based on SSR molecular markers, the genetic diversity of 20 alfalfa germplasm resources in Xinjiang was analyzed in this study, fifty pairs of SSR primers were screened by gradient PCR instrument, and the primers with high polymorphism were selected.
Result Nine pairs of primers were proved to be polymorphic from 50 pairs of SSR primers, a total of 199 bands were generated, among which 179 (89.95%) were polymorphic. The genetic distance values ranged from 0.010 4 to 0.086 0. Nei’s gene diversity and Shannon’s information index of 9 pairs of polymorphic primers were 0.164 0 and 0.254 4, respectively. The UPGMA result indicated that 20 alfalfa accessions were clustered into five groups at a threshold of 0.957 1.
Conclusion The alfalfa germplasm resources from Xinjiang have abundant genetic diversity and high genetic differentiation among populations.