SSR Linkages to Eight Additional Morphological Marker Traits

Introduction More than 1000 morphological markers have been identified in barley (Franckowiak and Lundqvist 2002). These phenotypic traits were observed as spontaneous or artificially generated mutants in a wide range of cultivars over decades of research. Traits identified with alternate alleles include plant height, spike morphology, and seed size, among others. Approximately 275 of these markers have been placed on the morphological marker linkage map of the seven barley chromosomes (Franckowiak unpublished 2002) and/or on the consensus molecular marker linkage map (Kleinhofs 2002); approximately 150 to 200 additional markers have been placed on other maps but the rest have not been mapped.