Studies on the fruit quality and AFLP markers of Ziziphus jujuba cv. Dongzao from Hebei and Shandong provances.

'Dongzao'(Ziziphus jujuba Mill.cv.Dongzao) is one of the famous fresh-eating cultivars of Chinese jujubes that matures in middle October.'Dongzao' originates in the neighbouring region of Bohai Bay region.There is a little bit difference in the quality of 'Dongzao' fruit from different production area of Hebei and Shandong province,and we are curious about the reason.Four paralleled orchards,located respectively in Huanghua and Cangxian counties in Hebei province,Zhanhua county in Shandong province and Changping county in Beijing were established to evaluate the fruit quality of 'Dongzao',in order to analyze the main factor causing the quality difference.The three-year-old grafted jujube trees derived from five different original provenances,which were Huanghua and Cangxian counties in Hebei province,and Zhanhua,Qingyun and Laoling counties in Shandong province respectively,were selected as test tree materials.The results are as follows: the quality traits of 'Dongzao' fruit such as weight,shape,water content,edible ratio,color of the pericarp,contents of Vc,organic acid,sugar,soluble solid content and the score of sense evaluation,as well as the AFLP markers,from different original provenances' tree materials,had not significant difference in the same experiment orchard.So we could consider that 'Dongzao',native to Hebei or Shandong province,belonging to the same variety,which had a very small distance of heredity(SM=0.987 3—1.000 0).The reason causing the difference of the fruit quality of 'Dongzao' in different orchards could be attributed to the different growth condition and cultivating methods.So the improvement of 'Dongzao' was mainly dependent on selecting of the individual advanced trees.