Abstract:

In order to evaluate and analyze the genetic diversity of the tea germplasm resources from different regions, 72 kinds of germplasm resources from Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan were selected as the research objects, and 27 phenotypic characters were observed and analysed. The 72 tea germplasms were rich in hereditary variability. The average genetic diversity index (H′) was 1.30 while the index of stem thick of tea was the biggest (2.15), and among them the quantitative character (1.82) was higher than that of the qualitative character (0.94). The average coefficient of variation (CV) of quantitative character was 17.86% while the biggest was the hundred-bud weight (29.21%), followed by the index of germination density (23.46%). Besides, the correlation analysis found that the relationship between multiple quantitative traits was complex. The correlation of 22 pairs of characters reached extremely significant level (P˂0.01), and that for 8 pairs of characters reached significant level (P˂0.05). Cluster analysis showed that the 72 germplasm were divided into four groups when the genetic distance was 16, the main characters of each group were significantly different, and the various morphological characters and evolutionary types were different. Principal component analysis showed that the characteristic number of the first 10 principal components were greater than 1, which representing 76.04% information of 27 phenotypic characters. The top five germplasm were selected, which could be used in the new products development, tea breeding based on the comprehensive score of the principal components. This study would provide some references for the development and utilization of the germplasm resources of tea and the breeding of new cultivars.

Key words: tea germplasm resources, phenotypic character, genetic diversity