Genetic distance and
relationships of the 18
alfalfa local varieties in China and the 9 alfalfa
Varieties representing the 9 basic alfalfa germplasm sources in Northern American were analyzed using RAPD
markers. Results show that average distance of 18 alfalfa local varieties in China is 1.56, and the 18 varieties can be clustered into 7 groups when the genetic distances of 1.5 are used as critical value. Results of cluster analysis indicate that relationships between the 18 alfalfa varieties in China are related to their geographic distribution. Average distance of the 9 varieties in Northern American is 1.68, and results of cluster analysis verify that Medicago sativa ssp. varia has more similarity with Medicago sativa ssp. sativa than Medicago sativa ssp. falcata. Compared with the 9 varieties in Northern American, difference among the 18 varieties in China are smaller, and this result is related to the narrow geographic distributions and frequent gene communications of the 18 alfalfa local varieties in China. Relationships between the 18 alfalfa local varieties in China revealed by RAPD markers and seed storage protein markers are similar, and there are also some exceptions. Reason for these exceptions is that loci revealed by RAPD and seed storage protein markers are different, and difference between varieties may be not same on different loci.