Phenotypes and molecular markers of somaclonal variation in Zoysia japonica

Zoysia japonica is one of important warmseason turfgrasses. The plants as research materials in this study were regenered from calli induced from one seed. Their phenotypes were investigated after planted in field. Furthermore, ISSR was used to detect polymorphism of somaclonal variation. The results showed that variation coefficients of stolon number and green period were bigger than others. Ten phenotypic characters were analyzed by the Principal Component Analysis, while the first five principal components could represent whole. The first principal component represented erect stem and the second represented stolon and inflorescence branch height. The ISSR marker polymorphic bands and specific bands accounted for 83.6% and 15.1% of total DNA bands, repectively. This research offered a shortcut way for obtaining valuable variations, which made somaclonal variation to contribute to breeding.