Abstract: Medicago ruthenica is an important legume forage in China.Genetic diversity was studied in 13 Medicago ruthenica populations by morphological and SSR markers of seed yield characteristics,such as number of twigs in unit area,number of raceme on flowers,number of racemes on a twig,number of pods on a raceme,number of seeds on a raceme,number of seeds on a pod and 1 000 seeds weight.The results showed that genetic variance in seed yield characteristics was from 19.97% to 109%.The variance percentage range of seed yield was the biggest,which the variance scale was from 0.08 to 11.208 kg/ha(P<0.05).The variance of 1 000 seeds weight was the smallest and not significant(P>0.05).Based on the morphological data,13 Medicago ruthenica populations of wild were clustered into 4 groups.The variance of range genetic distance was from 1.00 to 0.11 in different varieties of Medicago ruthenica using SSR.Genetic diversity of seed yield characteristics was rich in different varieties of Medicago ruthenica.The UPGMA Dendrogram displayed that the 13 Medicago ruthenica populations were clustered into 4 groups.

Key words: Medicago ruthenica, Seed yield characteristics, Genetic diversity, Morphological, SSR

CLC Number: 

• S551.7