Abstract:

The investigation found that the defoliation color of Eriobotrya is abundant and various，including 24 kinds of representative colors such as red brown，golden yellow，purple red，etc. In this study，defoliation front and rear color parameters of 10 genera，176 materials were determined by portable colorimeter in order to reveal the diversity characteristic of loquat defoliation color. Our results showed that：1The coefficient range of variation（CV）of the defoliation color parameters were 8.65%–185.30%，Shannon’s diversity index reached to 1.95，which reveals the variance diversity of loquat defoliation color. 2 Shannon’s genetic diversity index and CV between different germplasm types and different origin groups were distinct obviously，color parameter a increased but b decreased with higher domestication；Shannon’s diversity index of Yunnan，Guizhou and Fuzhou groups were relatively higher than others. 3 The front colors of defoliation were divided into 12 groups，and the rear colors were divided into 10 groups by systematic cluster analysis. And there are great differences among germplasm types within these groups. 4 Color parameter L and b make a greater contribution to the systematic cluster analysis. There was a very significant correlation between color parameter L and b of defoliation front and rear color. 5 Genetic diversity of defoliation color may be the complement of morphological feature description for loquat. Our results provide new reference for the  identification and utilization of loquat resources and have potential value on loquat classification.

Key words: Eriobotrya, germplasm resource, defoliation, leaf color, Shannon’s diversity index