Genetic structure of hull-less barley (Hordeum vulgare L. subsp. vulgare) landrace populations from North-western Indian Himalayas

Seven STMS primers were used to analyse 20 individuals each of 15 populations of North-western Indian Himalayan hull-less barley landraces. A total of 96 alleles were detected of which 40 were common and 56 were rare. Administrative regionwise, highest allelic richness was revealed by populations from Himachal Pradesh (10.71 alleles/locus) followed by Jammu & Kashmir (8.86 alleles/locus) and Uttarakhand (8.43 alleles/locus). Greater heterozygosity measures for populations from Himachal Pradesh followed by Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand were also revealed. Population differentiation, based on FST measures, was moderate to high for Uttarakhand accessions (0.43) followed by Himachal Pradesh (0.35) and Jammu & Kashmir (0.20). A total of 24 unique alleles were present in 15 barley landrace populations. A maximum of 10 unique alleles were present in populations from Himachal Pradesh followed by 8 in populations from Jammu & Kashmir and the least 6 in populations from Uttarakhand. Of the common localized alleles representing certain specific adaptations, a maximum of 5 alleles were present in populations from Jammu and Kashmir followed by 4 in populations from Himachal Pradesh and 2 in populations from Uttarakhand. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed maximum percentage of variation (56.38%) within populations followed by 42.36% among populations within group and a marginal 1.26% among groups. The UPGMA dendrogram revealed that 5 landraces from Jammu and Kashmir formed 1 tight and geographically distinct group at sub-cluster level whereas no such association was found for populations from Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.