Association Analysis of Agronomic and Yield-Related Traits in an Upland Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) Germplasm Population Based on SSR Markers

Objective] Molecular markers associated with agronomic and yield-related traits could provide useful references for improving the efficiency of Gossypium hirsutum breeding. Method] In 147 upland cotton materials, 237 Simple Sequence Repeat(SSR) markers were assayed for polymorphisms. The population structure was analyzed using Structure 2.2. An association analysis between SSR markers and the agronomic and yield-related traits was performed using the Tassel 2.1 General Linear Model program. Result] The average coefficients of variation for the five indicators varied from 7.28% to 21.06%, with an average of 13.47%, which indicated that the test population had a rich phenotypic diversity. The 237 SSR markers included 690 alleles belonging to 281 loci, with an average of 2.455 0 alleles per SSR marker (ranging from 2 to 6), and the average polymorphism information content value was 0.216 5. The test group could be divided into seven subgroups using Structure software. A genome-wide association analysis was conducted on five agronomic and yield-related traits from 2013 to 2015. There were 45 SSR loci and 1 locus significantly (P＜0.01) associated with boll weight and lint percentage, which were detected in 3 or more environments, and they explained 19.30% and 11.58%, respectively, of the phenotypic variation in the different environments (P＜0.01). Nine loci were significantly (P＜0.01) associated with agronomic traits at two or more bowing times, and one, four and four markers were associated with fruit branch number, boll number and plant height, explaining 9.96%, 7.00% and 5.57%, respectively, of the phenotypic variation in different environments. Sites significantly associated with boll weight, fruit branch number and plant height were simultaneously detected near BNL2448. Conclusion] Many loci associated with the yield and other important agronomic traits of upland cotton were repeatedly detected in different environments using an association analysis. The results provide useful reference information for cotton molecular marker-assisted selection-based breeding.