3.1 Polymorphism of AFLP markers
The eight primer pairs yielded 1728 clearly identifiable amplified
bands, of which 1654 (95.72%) were polymorphic (Table 2). Different
primers yielded different numbers of bands ranging from 214
(E -ACG/M -CTC) to 199 (E -AGC/M -CTG andE -AAG/M -CAC) with an average of 207. The highest rate of
polymorphism for an individual primer was 99.07%, and the lowest was
92.13%. Overall, these eight primers showed high levels of polymorphism
among individuals of P. villosa .
The indices, N a, N e, h , and I were important
indicators of genetic diversity of populations. According to the genetic
diversity index of eight primer pairs, the indices of N a,N e, h and I ranged from 1.9950 to 2.0000 with an
average of 1.9994, 1.2898 to 1.3445 with an average of 1.3229, 0.1926 to
0.2131 with an average of 0.2056, and 0.3183 to 0.3379 with an average
of 0.3316, respectively. Overall, these indices showed the highest
genetic diversity for the primer pair of E -AGG/M -CAC,
while the lowest was for E -ACT/M -CTT. In general, each of
eight primer pairs appeared to facilitate a robust assessment of genetic
diversity in P. villosa .