Molecular variation among Chinese and global germplasm in spring faba bean areas

With 3 figures and 4 tables Abstract A sample of 39 spring type faba bean landraces from four provinces in China, were compared in diversity with 136 spring accessions from the rest of the world, including Africa, Canada, Asia, Europe, and 41 breeding lines from ICARDA. These germplasm were characterised with 12 amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) primer pairs. 244 unambiguous bands were detected, of which 236 were polymorphic, and four gene pool populations were identified. The spring faba bean accessions were broadly geographically associated in their genetic diversity, and ICARDA breeding lines were relatively narrow in genetic diversity. Chinese spring faba bean landraces differed to some extent from the rest of the world, with distribution in three of the four gene pool populations. The diversity levels of accession gene pool populations were measured and compared for relationship to geographic origin.