Phenotypic genetic diversity of a core collection of Ziziphus jujuba and correlation analysis of dehiscent characters

To specify the phenotypic diversity and variation characteristics of a core collection of jujube(Ziziphus jujuba), authenticate the correlation between fruit (stone) characters and dehiscent characters and then improve the utilization efficiency of jujube germplasm resources, 9 phenotypic characters of a core collection of jujube were measured and their statistic analysis was implemented in this study. The results showed that: 1) the core collection presented higher level of phenotypic diversity, the variable coefficients of all phenotypic characters were larger than 20% with mean value of 39.00%, and the Shannon-Wiener index ranged from 1.49 to 1.93 with mean value of 1.77; 2) Different levels of correlation were observed among 9 phenotypic characters, in which multiple characters showed significant correlation (positive or negative correlation) among fruit (stone) characters, and fruit transverse diameter showed significant positive correlation with dehiscent rate, fruit shape index showed significant negative correlation with dehiscent index, no significant correlation was found between stone characters and dehiscent characters, and dehiscent rate and dehiscent index showed significantly positive correlation; 3) Four principle components were determined based on the principle component analysis of 9 phenotypic characters and the cumulative contribution rate was 94.79%, which indicated that 94.79% of initial genetic information was included. The stone vertical diameter, dehiscent fruit index, stone shape index and fruit shape index were the four principal factors of phenotypic diversity in a core collection of jujube.