Genetic diversity of avocado from the southern highlands of Tanzania as revealed by microsatellite markers.

High diversity detected in the analysed avocado germplasm implies that this germplasm is a potentially valuable source of variable alleles that might be harnessed for genetic improvement of this crop in Tanzania. The mixing of avocado trees from different districts observed in the PCA and dendrogram points to strong gene flow among the avocado populations, which led to population admixture revealed in the STRUCTURE analysis. However, there is still significant differentiation among the tree populations from different districts that can be utilized in the avocado breeding program.