Phenotypic Characterization, Genetic Diversity Assessment in 6,778 Accessions of Barley (Hordeum vulgare L. ssp. vulgare) Germplasm Conserved in National Genebank of India and Development of a Core Set

Abstract

The entire collection of cultivated barley germplasm accessions conserved in the Indian National Genebank (INGB) was characterized for nine qualitative and 8 quantitative traits to assess the nature and magnitude of prevailing genetic variability and to develop a core set. A wide range of variability was observed for days to spike emergence (51–139 days), days to physiological maturity (100–152 days), plant height (45.96–171.32 cm), spike length (3.44–13.73 cm), grain number/spike (10.48–82.35), and 100-grain weight (1.20–6.86 g). Initially, seven independent core sets were derived using 3 core construction tools– MSTRAT, PowerCore, and Core Hunter 3 by employing the maximization method, heuristic sampling, and optimisation of average genetic distances, respectively. The core set-3 generated by Core Hunter 3 by simultaneous optimisation of diversity and representativeness, captured maximum genetic diversity of the whole collection as evident from the desirable genetic distance, variance difference percentage (VD; 87.5%), coincidence rate of range (CR; 94.27%) and variable rate of coefficient of variance (VR; 113.8%), which were more than threshold value of VD (80%), CR (80%), and VR (100%) required for good core collection. The coefficient of variation and Shannon–Weaver diversity indices were increased in the core set as compared with the whole collection. The low value of Kullback-Leibler distance (0.024–0.071) for all traits and quantile-quantile plots revealed a negligible difference between trait distribution patterns among the core set and entire assembly. Correlogram revealed that trait associations and their magnitude were conserved for most of the traits after sampling of the core set. The extraction of the INGB barley core set and identification of promising accessions for agronomically important traits in different genetic backgrounds will pave the way for expedited access to genetically diverse and agronomically important germplasm for barley breeding.

Morphological variations of qualitative traits of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) accessions in Ethiopia

“…Awned LmA was monomorphic in all regions, while awnless, awnleted, sessile and elevated traits were absent ( Table 2 ). This result is comparatively consistent with the awned spikes that were predominant (96% and 89%) of barley materials from India, Syria, Canada, the USA and Mexico ( Kaur et al., 2022 ) and from the world collection ( Tolbert et al., 1979 ), respectively. The presence of awn is an advantageous trait in cereals ( Ahmadi et al., 2018 ; Ntakirutimana and Xie, 2020 ) which may be associated with tolerance to drought stress climatic conditions as well as an adaptive structure against leaf diseases ( Paperson and Ohm, 1975 ; Negassa, 1986 ), yet further evaluations are required to understand the relationship between awn length, and grain yield potential in moisture deficit area as well in leaf disease affected environments.…”

“…Twenty two accessions for nine qualitative traits ( Kebebew et al., 2001 ), forty four landraces for four qualitative traits ( Assefa and Labuschagne, 2004 ), one hundred six landraces for eight qualitative traits ( Tanto Hadado et al., 2009 ), forty three landraces for eight qualitative traits ( Shumet and Tesema, 2014 ), one hundred two accessions for six qualitative traits ( Mekonnon et al., 2015 ), thirty-six landraces for eleven qualitative traits ( Addisu et al., 2018 ), and one hundred twenty landraces for seven qualitative traits ( Gadissa et al., 2021 ) were reported. These reports provide primary information to distinguish genetic resources from diverse geographic sites in relation to efficient germplasm collection and valorization in barley breeding ( Mekonnon et al., 2015 ; Kaur et al., 2022 ). Although these researchers realized the role of morphological diversity in past decades, in general, there is still a gap in the characterization and evaluation of the preserved germplasm and their valorization in barley breeding.…”

Evaluation of grain yield performance and its stability in various spring barley accessions under condition of different agroclimatic zones of Ukraine

“…There are many studies aimed at evaluating the genetic diversity of barley based on both molecular and genetic levels and agro-morphological traits (Taibi et al, 2019;Kumar et al, 2020;Brbaklić et al, 2021). For example, only in recent years were results published of assessment of barley genetic diversity in Algeria (Rahal-Bouziane et al, 2015), Oman (Al Lawati et al, 2021), Tunisia (Marzougui et al, 2020), Tibet (Li et al, 2020), Jordan (Al-Abdallat et al, 2017), Pakistan , Iraq (Lateef et al, 2021), Kazakhstan (Almerekova et al, 2021), Brasil (Monteiro et al, 2020, India (Kaur, 2022), Ethiopia (Jalata et al, 2020;Gadissa et al, 2021;Angassa & Mohammed, 2022;Teklemariam et al, 2022), Chinа (Memon et al, 2021), Palestine (Shtaya & Abdallah, 2021). Thus, it should be mentioned that even in the era of modern molecular technologies, studying genetic diversity by phenotypic traits has not lost its value.…”

Agro Morphological Characterization and Diversity Assessment of Pea (Pisum Sativum L.) Germplasm Conserved in Genebank of Nepal

“…Characterizing, assessing, using, and maintaining these resources is challenging because of the large number and heterogeneity of germplasm collections preserved at Genebanks. In order to diversify parental material for breeding and create a successful crop improvement program, a thorough analysis of the prevalent variety within the Genebank collection of germplasm is necessary (Kaur et al 2022). Few studies states the existence of broad genetic diversity in peas (Bhuvaneswari et al, 2017;Singh et al, 2017).…”