Objective  Cymbidium hybrid EST-SSR markers were studied to determine their transferability for applications on the cultivar identification and germplasm utilization of Chinese cymbidium cultivars.

  Method  Genetic diversity of 240 pairs EST-SSR primers in 44 cultivars of Cymbidium goeringii, C. ensifolium, C. sinense and others were analyzed, and their transferability among Chinese cymbidium cultivars examined.

  Result  The rates of transferability were found to be 67.92% for C. goeringii, 66.25% for C. ensifolium, and 71.25% for C. sinense. Among the markers, 17 EST-SSR primer pairs were selected to study the molecular phylogeny of the 44 cultivars. Out of them, 10 primer pairs showed polymorphisms with expanded 52 bands. The bands numbered between 3 to 9 with a range of polymorphism information content between 0.504 and 0.850. These cultivars were clustered into 4 groups, same as concluded by the conventional botanical classification.

  Conclusion  The Cymbidium hybrid EST-SSR markers selected from this study effectively showed the molecular genetic diversity of the various Chinese cymbidium cultivars.