Identification of the male parent of superior half-sib Populus tomentosa individuals based on SSR markers

When hundreds of cross-pollinated trees planted in The National Gene Bank of Populus tomentosa blossom and bear fruit, in theory, half-sib progeny should originate from hundreds of combinations. Paternity testing was performed on the superior half-sib progeny with outstanding performance using microsatellite markers, a process that can be used to rapidly screen for superior cross combinations and significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of genetic improvements. Based on the comprehensive evaluation of the eight main growth traits of 2292 plants of 30 half-sib families, 77 plants consisting of 43 triploid and 34 diploid plants were selected as superior. We used 14 pairs of highly polymorphic SSR primers to identify the male parents of the 77 superior plants. Our results identified 29 male trees as the pollen parents of 59 superior plants from 49 cross combinations. The probabilities of 2-14, 3-48-1, 1903, 2-1, 4234, 5099, and 4114 as male parents were significantly higher than those of other males, suggesting that these male parents have potential for applications in breeding strategies of P . tomentosa . Thus, this study used SSR molecular markers to identify the male parents of superior individuals in a P . tomentosa population, laying a foundation for the application of maternal efficiency and construction of optimal hybrid parent groups.