Abstract:In order to understand the diversity of leaf phenotypic traits in Barthea barthei germplasm resources, the variance analysis, correlation analysis, principal component analysis and cluster analysis were conducted based on leaf traits of 139 individuals from 6 populations. The results showed that there were significant differences in leaf phenotypic traits among population groups and individuals. The variation coefficients of leaf traits ranged from 0.14 to 0.84 with average of 0.32, suggesting that the leaf traits of B. barthei varied greatly. Leaf traits could be extracted into five principal components, with a cumulative contribution rate of 88%, in which leaf area, leaf perimeter, leaf width, leaf length/width and leaf shape parameters were the main factors caused phenotype difference. Cluster analysis showed that 139 individuals of B. barthei resources could be divided into 6 groups, there were 34 individuals in group Ⅰ, 7 in group Ⅱ, 1 in group Ⅲ, 15 in group Ⅳ, 37 in group Ⅴ, and 45 in group Ⅵ, which showed that the individuals from different population were scattered in different groups, indicating that there were no significant relationship between leaf phenotype and source. Therefore, the leaf phenotypic diversity was abundant among different populations and individuals, which could provide basis for genetic improvement and new variety breeding.
