Epsilon Open Archive

Abstract

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of the most important forage cereal crops in Kyrgyzstan. Today it is grown under extremely hard conditions in many highland regions where other crops cannot compete. Kyrgyzstan is a mountain agrarian country and agriculture is one of the major sectors of the economy. Almost 65% of the Kyrgyz population is living in rural area. Currently, many local farmers are facing various problems in order to find suitable cultivars which can grow under the harsh conditions with capacity of high yield and good resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. In most cases modern barley cultivars are limited ability to grow and to have the potential of a high yield under such hard environment conditions. Many farmers grow unknown material of barley, which has some useful agronomic traits that could give a good yield under a short vegetation period in highland areas.

The aim of this doctoral thesis was to evaluate the phenotypic and genotypic diversity of spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) grown in Kyrgyzstan and other materials estimating their potential usefulness for breeding in Kyrgyzstan. In the present study morphological and microsatellite markers as well as agronomic traits were used in order to characterize the diversity of the studied accessions. The results facilitate a better understanding of the genetic diversity level and relationships of barley material from different eco-geographic regions. High genetic diversity was found among the collected 'farmers' mixture populations' (FMP) used by Kyrgyz farmers as compare with the rest of studied materials. Cluster analysis shows a clear separation between farmers’ material and other bred cultivars and landraces. Though for the majority of FMPs material origin could not be identified, some individuals showed to be closely related with Kyrgyz bred cultivars. When agronomic performance of subset of accessions was evaluated there were some cultivars and landraces identified which showed more stable agronomic characteristics in different agro-environment conditions. These cultivars can be used in Kyrgyz barley breeding program as sources of traits for cultivar improvement.