Genetic Diversity in Eucalyptus grandis Populations Based on RAPD Analysis

Genetic diversity and differentiation of eleven populations of Eucalyptus grandis introduced into Zixing City, Hunan Province were studied with the method of RAPD analysis. Through the amplification of 20 random primers, 149 repeatable loci were detected and 89 loci were polymorphic. Percentage of polymorphic loci was 59.73%. There was significant difference among populations with proportion of polymorphic loci ranging from 42.86% to 55.89%. According to the measurement of Shannon index, genetic diversity of Eucalyptus grandis was on a relatively high level and genetic variation was mainly distributed within the population (71.26%). In the studied populations of Eucalyptus grandis, the level of genetic diversity of 8 populations was the highest while that of 6 populations was the lowest; the genetic distance among populations ranged from 0.039 1 to 0.134 4; and the average genetic distance among populations was 0.081 7. All these contribute to the early selection among Eucalyptus grandis populations.