Characterization of strawberry (Fragaria spp.) accessions by genotyping with SSR markers and phenotyping by leaf antioxidant and trichome analysis

Abstract Strawberry is an important fruit crop for its nutritional value and is known to have high amounts of antioxidants. Antioxidants in strawberry can protect from cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and other health issues. Therefore, the demand for strawberry consumption has been on the rise for more than a decade. Strawberry fruits are more prone to pests and diseases partly due to their higher water and nutrient content and low pH levels. Hence there is a need for improved strawberry lines with better stress tolerance without compromising fruit quality. In this study, we genotyped thirty-three strawberry accessions utilizing thirty-five SSR markers to observe genetic diversity or relatedness among the accessions studied and phenotyped based on leaf total antioxidant (TA) content and trichome density. We identified 120 alleles with an average of 3.43 alleles per locus. Shannon indices, which are indicative of measure of diversity ranged from 0.1461 for the marker ARSFL_9 to 1.6635 for the marker FG1a/b. All thirty-three accessions were grouped into five clusters based on the genetic diversity analysis. From our analysis, the four out of thirty-three genotypes named Wendy, Elan hybrid, Clancy and Record contain higher amounts total antioxidants as well as higher trichome density. Further studies will be needed to find the possibility of linkage between these traits. Information generated from our studies can be utilized in cultivar development and authentication of genotypes.