Genetic diversity analysis of the developed qingke (hulless barley) varieties from the plateau regions of Sichuan Province in China revealed by SRAP markers

Genetic diversity of 25 accessions of Qingke (hulless barley) varieties from the plateau regions of Sichuan Province, China, was analyzed by using SRAP (Sequence-related Amplified Polymorphism) markers. The results showed that 64 pairs of primer combinations produced 999 clear bands, of which 62 primer pairs (96.9%) amplified 225 polymorphic bands (22.5%). Three hundred and thirty three allelic phenotypes were amplified with an average of 5.20 alleles/primer pair. The genetic diversity ranged from 0 (me9/em14, me9/em15) to 0.8928 (me6/em18) with an average of 0.5126. The 25 accessions were classified into three major groups: A, B, and C by cluster analysis using UPGMA, which showed significant relationship with the origin regions of accessions. Thus, it was suggested that the Sichuan hulless barleys could be used as elite germplasms to enhance the genetic background for super-hulless barley breeding.