Abstract
Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of the principal cereal crops grown in Western-Himalayas of India. A set of 105 barley genotypes including 38 two-rowed and 67 six-rowed genotypes were phenotyped for 10 important quantitative traits. The analysis of trait data of pre-harvest sprouting tolerance (PHST), growth, yield and yield contributing traits revealed significant variation in the germplasm and led to the identification of promising candidate genotypes for all the traits. In addition, a set of 96 barley genotypes were subjected to molecular characterization using 14 unlinked SSR markers (7 random and 7 genic SSR markers). The analysis of SSR marker data revealed a total of 67 alleles (range 2 to 8) with an average of 4.78 alleles/locus. While analyzing the data separately for random and genic SSR markers, it was observed that genic SSR markers are slightly less diverse (4.71 alleles/locus) than random genomic SSR markers (4.85 alleles/locus). A set of three markers including two random (XBmac156 and XBmag378) and one genic (XGbm1221) SSR marker detecting 7–8 alleles were found most polymorphic/informative markers for the study of allelic diversity in barley. The clustering of 96 genotypes based on genotypic data categorized all the genotypes into three broad clusters, sub- clusters and sub-sub clusters. The genotypes clustered in three sub-clusters did not show any trait-specific relationship with each other. The overall result of genotypic data analysis indicated moderate-level of genetic diversity in the 96 barley genotypes. The diverse and most promising genotypes identified for different traits during the present study could prove useful in future barley breeding programs worldwide.
