Classification of kernel-using germplasm based on morphology in apricot

【Objective】To evaluate the genetic diversity of kernel-using apricot and to reveal the ancestryand classification based on morphological variation.【Methods】A collection of 22 kernel-using cultivars,6 Armeniaca sibirica Lam.,and 5 Armeniaca vulgaris Lam. were investigated and the several morphologi-cal characteristics of leaf and fruit were measured in this study. The cluster dendrogram was obtained bysimilarity coefficient using UPGMA and Euclidean distance based on qualitative character and quantitycharacter.【Results】On qualitative character,the variation types were rich in the kernel-using cultivars,and were mostly between A. sibirica and A. vulgaris. The stone tip of the most kernel-using cultivars wassignificantly different from that of other types,and the stone size of the kernel-using was bigger than thatof common apricot and Siberian apricot. The cluster analysis showed that the measured cultivars wereclusted into 6 groups at 7.2 genetic distance level,and the cluster II were further divided into differentgroups.【Conclusion】From the analysis of the morphological variation,the results suggested that varia-tion types were abundant in kernel-using apricot which had three different ancestries. According to thedifferent types of ancestry,the kernel-using cultivations or strains were assigned to A. sibirica group,A.vulgaris group or A. cathayana group.