Botanical morphology and genetic diversity analysis of seven Kengyilia hirsuta germplasms in the areas of Sanjiangyuan

The principal component analysis of panicle traits, karyotype analysis, and EST-SSR molecular marker analysis were carried out on seven Kengyilia hirsuta materials in the areas of Sanjiangyuan. This was done to reveal the genetic diversity and morphological difference of K. hirsuta germplasms, and provide a theoretical basis for forage breeding and wheat crop improvement. The results showed that the variation coefficients of different panicle characters of K. hirsuta were different, and the variation in K. hirsuta was the largest. Spike size, spike density, and spikelet characteristics were the three main factors causing the difference. Glume length, lemma length, spike length, and spike width were the main factors behind the different morphological characters. The difference observed in the germplasm of Haiyan K. hirsuta was the largest. The seven K. hirsuta materials all were hexaploid, with 42 chromosomes, and the central centromeric chromosome was the main chromosome type. There were abundant polymorphisms in different types of centromeric chromosome numbers whether or not there were chaperones present. The diversity of karyotype indexes was rich, among which Guide K. hirsuta and Haiyan K. hirsuta were the 2C type, and the other germplasms were the 2B type. The evolution degree of Gonghe’s was the highest, that of Haiyan’s was the second highest, and that of Moxiangtan’s was the lowest. In the EST-SSR diversity analysis, the genetic distance between Haiyan K. hirsuta and Gangcha K. hirsuta were relatively far from that of other germplasms.