Diversity assessment of hulled barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) accessions by agro-morphological traits and SSR markers

Barley accessions from ICARDA, Lebanon were grown in Indian condition at ICARDA-IRP (Indian Research Platform), Amlaha, (M.P.) and analyzed for morphological and genetic variability using nine agro-morphological traits and molecular markers (SSR). Total 94 alleles were scored for 24 genotypes with 37 microsatellite markers. The number of alleles ranged from 2 to 4 with an average of 2.54 alleles per locus. The band fragment size varied from 100 bp to 455 bp with PIC values ranging from 0.153 to 0.707.
On comparing molecular variability across linkage groups, chromosome 3H with PIC and mean allele values 0.577 and 2.67 were observed to be most variable. The clusters obtained from NTSYS grouped ICARDA accessions in three major groups in accordance to their ancestry. These exotic accessions evaluated can be further used for primary or secondary introduction in Indian breeding program