Abstract:
Objective To investigate the feasibility of LeafAnalyzer and MorphoJ software in leaf morphological chartacters of poplar, F1 progenies between Populus simonii and P. nigra were used for variation analysis and principal component analyse of leaf morphological traits.
Method The leaves from 1-year-old plants of parents and progenies were collected and scanned with scanner and computer. Four leaf morphological traits (area, circumference, length and width), were measured by Digimizer software, and statistical parameters of the traits were calculated. LeafAnalyser software was used to generate spot markers of leaf shape contour through analysis of 200 mark points, build a leaf shape contour model, identify leaf shape characteristics and conduct principal component analysis (PCA). MorphoJ softeare was used to construct the profile model of leaf morphology by using Generalized Procrustes analysis (GPA), and PCA was performed to generate visual images of leaf shape changes.
Result The variation coefficients from four leaf morphological traits of the hybrid progenies were all greater than 10%, and the variation coefficient of leaf area was the largest (31.74%) among four leaf traits. Based on LeafAnalyser software, principal component analysis and leaf shape variation showed that PC1 an PC2 accounted for 91.79% of the total variables, and the leaf shape profile of PC1 showed that leaf area was the factor that had the greatest influence on PC1 of leaf shape variation. According to the results of leaf shape variation an PCA with MorphoJ software showed that PC1, PC2, PC3 and PC4 accounted for 85% of the total variables. Leaf shape contour maps of four principal components were generated from the marking data, which visually showed the trend of leaf shape changes.
Conclusion Based on statistical analysis of leaf characters, leaf morphological analysis software was introduced to leaf shape analysis, the genetic variation of leaf morphological traits in hybrid progenies was comprehensively and intuitively studied, and the method of leaf shape analysis software in leaf morphological research was constructed in poplar.