Objective  Correlation between the flavonoids content and associated markers was analyzed for genetic improvement studies on Tartary buckwheat.

  Method  Sixty-two SSR primer pairs were used to assess the genetic diversity of 193 Tartary buckwheat germplasms. The SSR markers closely related to the total flavonoids content were selected by association analysis.

  Result  The total flavonoids content of 193 Tartary buckwheat germplasms varied from 1.04% to 2.99% with a coefficient variation of 27.93%. Sixty-two pairs of SSR primers amplified 267 polymorphic sites with an average number of effective alleles of 2.45. The mean values of gene diversity, Shannon index, observed heterozygosity and polymorphism information content of SSR markers were 0.503, 0.942, 0.513 and 0.74, respectively. The population structure analysis divided the 193 germplasms into 3 subgroups. Five SSR markers were determined to be significantly associated with flavonoids content by the general linear model (GLM). The phenotypic variations ranged from 6.3% to 12.9% with TatG0124 at 12.9% and S6853 at 8.5% being the higher markers.

  Conclusion  The germplasms used in this study were diverse in genetic variation and feasible for related genome-wide mapping on important traits of Tartary buckwheat. The loci, TatG0124 and S6853, appeared to closely associate with the flavonoids content of Tartary buckwheat and were considered to be potentially useful for breeding new varieties with high content of the functional components.