Abstract
Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) has great adaptability to a wide range of environments. To determine genetic diversity in barley landraces, a total of 43 landrace populations were randomly sampled from the farmers’ field on plant basis and characterized for eight qualitative traits; namely, kernel row number, spike density, lemma awn barb, glume color, lemma type, length of rachila hair, kernel covering and lemma/kernel color. Morphological diversity was determined by the Shannon-Weaver index (H’). Overall barley landrace populations showed an average diversity index of 0.59, implying large diversity for the populations. Selection for adaptation to different altitude classes appears to be the main factor that has determined the observed variation, along with population-size effects. The result showed that barley landraces from Gamo highlands, Ethiopia are constituted by highly variable landraces that have large within-population diversity. These landraces are also shown to be locally adapted, with the major driving force that has shaped their population structure being consistent with selection for adaptation along an altitudinal gradient. Overall, this study highlights the potential of such landraces as a source of useful genes that can be exploited in crop improvement programmes. Key words: Barley, characters, landraces/farmer varieties, morphological diversity, altitudinal gradient.
Highlights
Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of the world's most ancient food crops
There was variability in barley population from studies of 51 Ethiopian barley accessions and it was found that the Shannon diversity varied from 0.00 to 0.62 for barley populations, and the diversity index estimated for an overall population ranged from 0.29 to 0.92 with an overall mean of 0.71 (Demissie and Bjornastad, 1996)
This study showed morphological variation for districts and altitude classes based on qualitative characters, which indicated that, the structure of morphological variation in Ethiopian barley landraces was influenced mostly by natural selection factors
Summary
Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of the world's most ancient food crops. It has been an important cereal crop since 8,000 to 10,000 years ago in the area of the MiddleEast known as “the Fertile Crescent” (Giles and von Bothmer, 1985; von Bothmer and Jacobsen, 1985). Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of the world's most ancient food crops. It has been an important cereal crop since 8,000 to 10,000 years ago in the area of the Middle. East known as “the Fertile Crescent” (Giles and von Bothmer, 1985; von Bothmer and Jacobsen, 1985). It is ranked third among the major cereal crops on the basis of production tonnage after wheat and rice (FAOSTAT, 2013). Barley is used for animal feed, brewing malts and human consumption (Hayes et al, 2002).
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