Characterization of landraces barley and determination of genetic diversity by ISSR markers

Barley landraces genotypes are one of our important gene resources that contribute to breeding programs to increase variation. The study was carried out with 29 barley materials consisting of 24 landraces barley and 5 control cultivars under semi-controlled greenhouse conditions. Barley genotypes characterized molecularly were also investigated in terms of some agricultural characteristics. Significant genetic variation was determined among barley genotypes characterized at the molecular level by ISSR markers. Landraces barley genotypes; in terms of stem waxiness, spike waxiness, thickness of the cross-section from the middle of the stem, flag leaf anthocyanin density, plant height and chlorophyll content showed high variation. 6 ISSR markers were used for molecular characterization of barley genotypes and polymorphic information content (PIC) values were determined as 0.85-0.94. While allele lengths of loci vary between 280-1500 bp, the smallest allele size is; UBC-842 largest allele size; observed in primers UBC-825 and UBC-826. It was observed that the number of alleles of ISSR primers used in the study varied between 7-15 and the average number of alleles was 12.6 for each locus. The phylogenetic tree formed as a result of the analysis was divided into two main clusters and in Cluster-2 it formed 3 sub-clusters among itself. According to the similarity matrix, the affinity of 5 barley cultivars used as control with 24 landraces genotypes between 58.7% and 89.5%. As a result, considering the possibility of identifying genotypes with superior characteristics, it is important to use the genetically most distant varieties or genotypes and to protect these genotypes in the gene pool in order to determine heterosis in breeding studies. It is predicted that the G76 and G85 landraces barley in the study are the most distant genotypes from the control varieties and these landraces barley can be used as parents in classical and modern breeding programs in order to contribute to broadening the genetic base.