Assessment of Genetic Diversity and Identification of Core Germplasm of Pueraria in Guangxi Using SSR Markers

Pueraria is not only one of the most important commercial crops, but a health supplement for human being. There are abundant Pueraria germplasm resources and a large planting scale in Guangxi. However, the genetic diversity and core germplasm of the Pueraria species in Guangxi are rarely understood. In this study, 272 individuals of Pueraria species in Guangxi combined with 23 pairs of simple sequence repeat primers were used to evaluate the genetic diversity and construct core germplasm. Ultimately, 118 alleles were identified and 112 alleles were polymorphic; the mean expected heterozygosity per locus is 0.1841, and the mean gene flow Nm is 1.7690. 272 individuals were divided into two main clusters, which is consistent with the results based on principal coordinate analysis and STRUCTURE cluster analysis. We proposed a core collection of 20 Pueraria accessions capturing 105 alleles. There was a non-significant relationship between genetic distance and geographical distance. The results could provide theoretical support for the scientific conversation of Pueraria genetic resources, which can serve as the basis for the breeding program of Pueraria.