Multivariate analysis of 31 phenotypic traits among major parental lines of sugarcane breeding programs in China

Authors: WU, JIANTAO - Guangdong Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; WANG, QINNAN - Guangdong Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; Pan, Yong-Bao; ZIE, JING - Guangdong Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; ZHOU, FENG - Guangdong Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; XU, HUANYIN - Guangdong Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; QIU, Y - Guangdong Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; LIU, ZHUANG - Guangdong Institute Of Applied Biological Resources

Submitted to: The Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/30/2020
Publication Date: 1/21/2021
Citation: Wu, J., Wang, Q., Pan, Y., Zie, J., Zhou, F., Xu, H., Qiu, Y., Liu, Z. 2021. Multivariate analysis of 31 phenotypic traits among major parental lines of sugarcane breeding programs in China. The Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences. 31(3):719-732. https://doi.org/10.36899/JAPS.2021.3.0262.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36899/JAPS.2021.3.0262

Interpretive Summary: Sugarcane breeders produce new sugarcane varieties by crossing two elite parental lines with superior agronomic characteristics, such as high sugar, low fiber, and resistance to biotic or abiotic stresses, etc. Choice of parental lines is very critical for the success of any breeding program. In this study, 221 sugarcane parent lines were evaluated for 31 agronomic traits and the data were subjected to multivariate analysis using several genetics tools. The genetic analysis revealed relatively high levels of genetic variations for the 31 traits among the 221 parental lines as indicated by coefficients of variation, Shannon’s information index, and Nei’s genetic diversity index. Among all the traits, plant height and stem were the most variable. the 221 parental lines were grouped into 11 series, namely, Guitang-, Yacheng-, Liucheng-, Canal Point-, Funong-, Yuetang-, Yunzhe-, Neijian-, Dezhe-, ROC-, Gannan-series, with the Guitang-series exhibiting the highest amount of genetic variability. A genetic distance tree was constructed to cluster the 11 series of parental lines into five categories, A, B, C, D, and E. Category E had two sub-categories E1 and E2. A phylogenetic tree was also constructed that placed the 221 parental lines into three main groups (I, II, and III) and six subgroups (A1 to A6). These results will provide key information on the genetic relatedness among these parental lines for the breeders to choose the right parental lines for crossing.

Technical Abstract: Sugarcane parental lines serve as a gene pool for sugarcane breeding and genetic improvement. Phenotypic evaluation is the most direct method to study genetic diversity among sugarcane parental lines. Morphological data were collected on 221 major sugarcane parent lines for 31 phenotypic traits for multivariate genetic analysis. The analysis revealed relatively high coefficients of variation (CV) and genetic diversity. Shannon’s information index (I) and Nei’s genetic diversity index (h) were 0.905±0.027 and 0.499±0.013, respectively. The average genetic diversity index was greater for plant height and stem than all other traits. Relatively large genetic distances averaging 0.817 were observed among the 11 series of sugarcane parental lines, with the Guitang-series exhibiting the most genetic diversity. At the genetic distance value of 0.124, the 11 series of parental lines formed five categories, named A to E. Category E had two sub-categories E1 and E2. A dendrogram based on genetic distance clustered the 221 major parental lines into three groups (I, II, and III) and six subgroups (A1 to A6). The results provided key information on genetic diversity useful for the screening and selection of potential parents and the design of potential intercrosses.