Abstract: In this study, genetic diversity and relationship among 11 coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) cultivars were analyzed based on the data of SSR. Genetic diversity of 11 coconut cultivars from Hainan province were studied using 30 SSR primer pairs, among them, 23 primer pairs amplified polymorphic fragments. A total of 136 polymorphic segments were produced, with the average polymorphic bands per SSR primer pair being 6.17 and ranging from 2 to 12. Polymorphic index content (PIC) values varied from 0.173 to 0.896 with an average of 0.561. The genetic similarity coefficients among 11 coconut cultivars ranged from 0.061 to 0.861. It indicated that there was sufficient genetic diversity among these coconut cultivars. Cluster analysis was made with unweighted pair group method for arithmetic averages (UPGMA) using genetic similarity coefficients. Eleven materials were clustered into 4 groups and 2 sub-groups. The denerogram revealed that traditional morphological classification system could not completely reflect the genetic relationship among coconut cultivars native to Hainan.

Key words: coconut, Cocos nucifera L., SSR, genetic diversity