Shortage of sugar beet germlasm resources results in the lag in researches of breeding and molecular biology. It is necessary to analyze the major varieties from three major production regions of China. Eighty-eight primer pairs were used to amplify the genomic DNA from leaves of four types of sugar beet varieties with different economic traits, which contain high yield type; high yield, low sugar and Rhizomania resistant type; standard type; medium yield, high sugar and anti-brown spot type, and 33 of which were obtained to be with availability. Two hundred and forty-one varieties from three major regions of China and nine varieties from abroad were detected with 33 primer pairs of SRAP markers. A total of 719 unambiguous bands were obtained, 459 of which were polymorphic. The average ratio of polymorphic bands was 63.8%. Compute over-all mean showed that genetic distance was 0.4165, genetic similarity among varieties was 0.6593, the genetic similarities were 0.7528 among foreign varieties, 0.6945 among monogerm varieties, 0.6816 among polygerm tetraploid varieties, and 0.6612 among polygerm diploid varieties. A total of 250 varieties were divided into four cluster groups based on cluster analysis by MEGA3.1 (at intercept of 0.2). Each genepool from three major regions of sugar beet production in China showed high level of genetic diversity, of which the Northeast genepool showed the highest. The varieties from China and abroad were classified into two different groups by POPGEN32. This indicated definite difference in the genetic background between foreign and native varieties.

Species of the genus Corylus are found widespread in China, and some wild accessions in high-elevation areas of Sichuan Province, including Corylus kweichowensis Hu, Corylus chinensis Franch., Corylus yunnanensis (Franch.) A. Camus, Corylus mandshurica Maxim., Corylus ferox and Corylus fargesii encourage the development of breeding and selection programs. To select cultivars suitable for cultivation in this area and regions with similar climate and site conditions, Sichuan Academy of Forestry has been evaluating eight hybrids of Corylus heterophylla Fisch. and Corylus avellana L. at low-elevation (500 m a.s.l.) experimental bases in Sichuan province since 2012. This study presents preliminary results on morphological characterization using international descriptors of hybrids and will discuss possible perspectives on hazelnut cultivation in Sichuan province. With the intention to exchange the expertise on hazelnut cultivation and improve the breeding program, Sichuan Academy of Forestry has created a collaboration with ENEA and UNITUS under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The goals and the activities of MoU will be debated as a model to build long-term cooperation among the Enterprise-University-Research Institutes on a fruitful management and utilization of hazelnut (Corylus spp.) genetic resources.

Experiments were conducted to validate different molecular markers associated with sugar beet breeding using available sugar beet monogerm germplasm resources to explore their effectiveness in different sugar beet populations. We used multiple primer pairs to amplify sugar beet monogerm sterile and maintainer lines in order to verify their polymorphism. For the nucleus Rf1 locus genotype enzyme digestion was also required to verify. The results showed that three pairs of primers, TR1, s17 and 11E8M4S, produced polymorphism when amplifying sugar beet sterile and maintainer lines; primers o7 and AB-18, although polymorphic, did not correlate significantly with sugar beet fertility; primer cpSSR-2 did not produce significant band differences when amplifying sterile and maintainer lines, however, the number of single nucleotide sequence repeats of base A needed to be further verified as a basis for differentiating sugar beet fertility. The polymorphism of 15 pairs of primers related to sugar beet fertility identification was verified and TR1, s17 and 11E8M4S could be used to differentiate sugar beet sterile lines from the maintainer lines and used for subsequent Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS).

No abstract