Genetic Diversity of Cultivated Barley Landraces in Iran Measured Using Microsatellites

The cultivated barley (Hordeum vulgare subsp. vulgare) is one of the major crops in the world. In this study the genetic diversity of 32 individuals of two-rowed and six-rowed Iranian landraces barley evaluated using 17 microsatellite markers. A high level of polymorphism information content (PIC; average = 0.651) and an average of 8.117 allele per locus were observed. In dendrograms constructed based on the SSR data, the two group of cultivars (var. distichon and var. hexastichon) were separated. Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that there is a high level of genetic diversity between the barely landraces in Iran and that the barely Iranian gene pool is valuable source to search for new useful alleles for crop improvement