Molecular and agronomic genetic diversity between barley genotypes under irrigation in the Brazilian Cerrado

The objective of this work was to evaluate and compare the genetic diversity of 29 barley genotypes, on the basis of molecular markers and quantitative agronomic traits, under irrigation in the Brazilian Cerrado. The randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), inter sequence simple repeats (ISSR), and simple sequence repeat (SSR) molecular markers were used. The quantitative agronomic traits were evaluated in two irrigated environments in the Brazilian Cerrado, for the following parameters: estimated grain yield, grain size, thousand seed weight, plant height, lodging degree, and days to heading. Marker polymorphisms were 91, 51.46, and 85% for RAPD, ISSR, and SSR, respectively. The RAPD, ISSR, and SSR markers are complementary for the identification of genetic variability among barley genotypes. The low correlations between the distances estimated on the basis of molecular markers and the distances estimated on the basis of agronomic traits emphasize the importance of using complementary analyses of molecular markers for more complete studies on genetic variability. The agronomic traits of the genotypes are different in the two environments. The selected genotypes can compose the working collection of irrigated barley in the Brazilian Cerrado because of their wide genetic variability.