Abstract:

The lack of elite cultivars is the bottleneck restricting the development of the Dipsacus asperoides cultivation industry. This study aims to screen high-quality provenances by collecting wild and cultivated D. asperoides plants from Yunnan and surrounding regions, and to clarify the distribution ratio and agronomic trait differences between white-anther and purple-anther plants in natural populations, thereby providing a theoretical basis for elite cultivar breeding and quality regulation of D. asperoides. Using 47 D. asperoides germplasm resources of different origins as materials, an experiment was conducted in the D. asperoides germplasm resource nursery of the Baoshan Agricultural Technology Extension Center using a randomized complete block design. By measuring 12 agronomic traits, including plant height, root diameter, and leaf area, combined with the determination of asperosaponin Ⅵ content via high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), data were processed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlation analysis to systematically evaluate the quality of the germplasm resources and the trait differences associated with anther color. The results showed that the rootstock diameter of D. asperoides exhibited a highly significant positive correlation with root length, number of root branches, root diameter, and leaf area (P<0.01), among which the correlation with leaf area was the strongest (r=0.738). Among the 47 germplasms, Da03 (yield 4466.40 kg/hm², saponin content 8.75%), Da29 (yield 3447.45 kg/hm², saponin content 9.15%), and Da25 (yield 3489.45 kg/hm², saponin content 7.73%) demonstrated high-yield and high-content potential, whereas Da37 (yield 7955.85 kg/hm², saponin content 3.36%) was identified as a key breeding material with high yield but low active ingredient content. In the natural population, plants with purple anthers accounted for 84%, while those with white anthers accounted for 16%. The asperosaponin VI content of the former (5.42%) was significantly higher than that of the latter (3.94%, P<0.05), whereas the inflorescence length (30.70 cm) and width (30.54 cm) of the latter were significantly greater than those of the former (P<0.05). This study clarified the core screening indicators for high-quality D. asperoides germplasm and the trait characteristics associated with anther color. The selected elite germplasms can serve as parental materials for breeding high-yield and high-quality D. asperoides varieties. Furthermore, anther color markers provide an intuitive basis for the rapid evaluation of germplasm quality, which holds significant practical importance for promoting the industrialization of D. asperoides cultivation and the conservation of its wild resources.

Key words: Dipsacus asperoides, white anther, purple anther, germplasm screening, asperosaponin Ⅵ, agronomic traits, seed selection and breeding