Chinese jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) is an economically important species with over 4,000 years of cultivation history. Cultivar classification and phylogenetic relationship of jujube have been controversial due to the lack of data related to species origin and cultivation. In this study, inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers were used to analyze the genetic characteristics and relationships of Korean and Chinese jujube cultivars. The amplification of genomic DNA of the 32 accessions using 11 primers yielded 149 amplified bands, of which 141 were polymorphic. The amplification of 22 jujube cultivars generated 76 bands, 40 of which were polymorphic, suggesting that many polymorphic bands appeared in the outgroup. The mean genetic similarity index (GSI) of the cultivars was 0.835; Bokjo, Geumseong, Wolchul, and Mudeung cultivars showed the highest GSI of 1, and Sandonglizao and Xiaolizao had the lowest GSI of 0.658. The cluster analysis resolved Indian jujube (Z. mauritiana Lam.) and Paliurus ramosissimus Poir. in a basal Group I, sour jujube 2 (Z. acidojujuba C.Y. Cheng & M.J. Liu) and Damaya formed Group II, Dabailing and Daguazao were clustered in Group III, and the remaining accessions formed Group IV. The Korean cultivars and Korean native varieties showed genetic uniformity and were close to some Chinese cultivars. Accordingly, exploration of domestic and foreign genetic resources should be supplemented with survey of characteristics of collected material for genetic resources management and breeding of elite lines.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by  

• Genetic diversity analysis of pomelo germplasm resources based on leaf phenotype and SCoT markers
  Xiaoqi Duan, Faisal Hayat, Ziqi Lei, Haocheng Ruan, Wenzhao Lin, Panfeng Tu, Caiqin Li, Wenpei Song, Yongquan Li, Juan Li, Lubin Zhang, Guohua Li, Ruifeng Ma, Wentao Gou, Gensheng Xiao, Qin Wang, Qiansong Wang
  Scientia Horticulturae.2025; 346: 114174.     CrossRef

Chinese jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) is highly resistant to environmental stress and can be easily cultivated, thus many jujube cultivars are being developed. However, the same cultivars had been cultivated with different names. Thus, systematic management is required to protect the intellectual property of different varieties. To aid systematic control of jujube cultivars, this study presents efficient markers for distinguishing cultivars through identification of morphological characteristics and relationships among 25 jujubes. Among 10 qualitative characteristics, flowering time, fructification time, presence of thorns, and shape of fruit were found to be useful traits for the cultivar identification. In the results of principal component analysis, 3 principal components (PC) represented 73% for the total variations. PC1 showed high positive correlations with fruit–related characteristics and PC2 formed a cluster with leaf-related characteristics. Therefore, the differences in fruit and leaf were identified as useful traits for the cultivar identification. According to the results of cluster analysis, which largely divided cultivars into 4 clusters, Sour jujube 2, with smaller fruits and leaves, was separated first. Cluster II included Chinese cultivars with large fruit sizes, such as Dalizao, Dabailing, Damaya, and Daguazao. Three Korean cultivars were grouped with Bokjo, Panzao, Zanhuangdazao, and Jinsi No. 3, and the remaining 13 cultivars formed a separate cluster.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by  

• Discriminative Power of Geometric Parameters of Different Cultivars of Sour Cherry Pits Determined Using Machine Learning
  Ewa Ropelewska, Kadir Sabanci, Muhammet Fatih Aslan
  Agriculture.2021; 11(12): 1212.     CrossRef
• The Application of Machine Learning for Cultivar Discrimination of Sweet Cherry Endocarp
  Ewa Ropelewska
  Agriculture.2020; 11(1): 6.     CrossRef