DNA fingerprinting of annual ryegrass strain of ‘Chuansi No. 1’ using SSR markers

DNA fingerprinting of 23 varieties of annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) were constructed using the SSR markers in this study. A total of 104 bands were amplified using 12 SSR primer pairs. The polymorphism information content (PIC) ranged from 0.392 to 0.822, with an average of 0.613. The Shannon index and gene diversity index ranged from 0.911 to 2.061 and from 0.407 to 0.838, respectively, with averages of 1.325 and 0.650, respectively. Cluster analysis showed that all the materials were divided into three branches. The first branch included a new line of ‘Chuansi No.1’ and its parental donor, in which ‘Chuansi No.1’ was clustered with ‘PI 611146’ and ‘Splendor’ as a small branch, and with ‘PI 283610’, ‘PI 283612’, and ‘PI 376875’ (‘G. Manawa’) as another small branch. The second largest branch was comprised of 12 nationally approved varieties, including ‘Gansi No.3’ and ‘Yancheng’. The third largest branch included five nationally approved varieties such as ‘Abundant’ and ‘Tetragold’. These results suggested that high genetic variation existed between the new line of ‘Chuansi No.1’ and the cultivated varieties of L. multiflorum used in this study. Primer 02-12E amplified unique bands on ‘Chuansi No.1’, which can be used for the rapid construction of fingerprints and molecular identification of this new line.