Abstract

To explore advantage traits of Pinellia ternata populations for hybridization breeding, effect of parents on contents of guanine nucleoside (hereinafter referred as "guanosine") and total free organic acids (hereinafter referred as "organic acid") of the F₁ groups were analyzed using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. Results showed that genetic distances (GDs) between 7 of the 9 tested F₁ groups and their female parents were smaller than those between the F₁ groups and their male ones. Heterosis for guanosine andorganic acid contents of the F₁ groups were more affected by their female parents than by the male parents, and were significantly correlated with the GDs between the F₁ groups and their female parents; the correlation coefficients were r=0.5258 and -0.6760, respectively. Furthermore, there is a significant correlation between the heterosis fororganic acid contents of the F₁ groups and the GDs between their parents; the correlation coefficient was r=0.3212, indicating that GDs between parents can be used to predict the heterosis for organic acid contents of the F₁ groups. But the heterosis for guanosinecontents of the F₁ groups does not correlate with the GDs between their parents, indicating that the GD between parents cannot be used to predict the heterosis for guanosinecontents of the F₁ group. In addition, relationship between bioaccumulation of the organic acid and guanosine in the tuber of P. ternata were discussed.

Key words: P. ternate, F₁, genetic distance, guanosine, organic acid.