Genetic Diversity in 19th Century Barley (Hordeum vulgare) Reflects Differing Agricultural Practices and Seed Trade in Jämtland, Sweden

Martin N A Larsson,Jenny Hagenblad,Matti W Leino

doi:10.3390/d13070315

Martin N A Larsson, Jenny Hagenblad + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/d13070315

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Journal: Diversity	Publication Date: Jul 9, 2021
Citations: 3	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Linköping University, Stockholm University

Abstract

Landrace crops are important genetic resources, both for plant breeding efforts and for studying agrarian history. The distribution of genetic diversity among landraces can reflect effects of climate, economic structure, and trade also over a limited spatial and temporal scale. In this study, we have SNP genotyped historical barley seed samples from the late 19th century, together with extant barley landrace accessions from Jämtland, Sweden, a county centrally located, situated between Sweden and Norway. We found two main genetic clusters, one associated with the main agricultural district around lake Storsjön and one in the peripheral areas. Data was also compared with genotypes from landraces from across the Scandinavian peninsula. Accessions from the peripheral part of Jämtland show genetic similarity to accessions from a large part of central Scandinavia, while the accessions from the Storsjön district are more differentiated. We suggest that these dissimilarities in genetic diversity distribution are explained by differences in the relative importance of agriculture and trading. We further compared the historical material with ex situ preserved extant landraces from the same region and found that their genetic diversity was not always representative of the given provenience. The historical material, in contrast, proved particularly valuable for assessing how crop genetic diversity has historically been influenced by economic focus.

Highlights

The concept of crop landraces dates back to the late 19th century [1,2], landraces have existed for far longer than this
The distribution of genetic diversity detected among the historical accessions showed that during the late 19th century clear geographic structuring of landrace barley existed in the county of Jämtland
Most of the historical accessions from the agricultural district surrounding lake Storsjön belonged to the same genetic cluster while accessions more peripheral to Storsjön belonged to a second cluster

Summary

Introduction

The concept of crop landraces dates back to the late 19th century [1,2], landraces have existed for far longer than this. Through natural and unintentional artificial selection, but with little or no formal plant improvement (but see Berg [5]), landraces become adapted to both local growth conditions and the farmers’ management regime. These differentiating forces, together with the stochastic effects of genetic drift and homogenization through gene-flow caused by, for example, seed exchange and seed replacement, result in plant populations that are, in spite of being more or less genetically diverse, often distinguishable from each other (e.g., [6,7,8]). Several historical collections exist, containing 19th century seed of landrace cereals from the Scandinavian peninsula (Norway and Sweden) [15,16,17]

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Discussion

Conclusion