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High genetic diversity revealed in barley (Hordeum vulgare) collected from small-scale farmer’s fields in Eritrea

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Abstract

Remarkable morphological variation has been found within small Eritrean barley fields. Barley was collected from fields approximately 50 m2 in size. Spike shape, type, and colour were observed to vary both between and within fields. A set of 39 Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) markers were used to explore the genetic diversity of the Eritrean barley collected from small-scale farmer’s fields. Significant genetic diversity was found within the barley fields. Out of 240 spikes collected from 24 fields (10 spikes per field), only two spikes from geographically distant fields were genetically similar. Based on the SSR data, individual farmers’ fields were found to possess 97.3% of the genetic variation present in the Eritrean barley. We discuss a strategy to improve the barley yield in Eritrea, and to facilitate the in situ conservation of barley genetic diversity.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Eritrean farmers who allowed us to sample the spikes from their fields. We also thank Mr. T. Ghebremania for his advice on the collection sites in Eritrea, and Mr. M. H. Matougui (Consultant—ICARDA) who assisted with the barley collection. Financial support for this research was provided by Danish International Development Assistance (DANIDA) and the Islamic Development Bank.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, 1871, Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Gunter Backes, Jihad Orabi & Ahmed Jahoor

  2. National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), Ministry of Agriculture of the Government of Eritrea, P.O. Box 4627, Halhale, Asmara, Eritrea

    Asmelash Wolday

  3. International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria

    Amor Yahyaoui

  4. General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research (GCSAR), P.O. Box 113, Douma, Damascus, Syria

    Jihad Orabi

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  1. Gunter Backes
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  4. Amor Yahyaoui
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  5. Ahmed Jahoor
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Correspondence to Ahmed Jahoor.

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Gunter Backes and Jihad Orabi contributed equally to this work.

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Backes, G., Orabi, J., Wolday, A. et al. High genetic diversity revealed in barley (Hordeum vulgare) collected from small-scale farmer’s fields in Eritrea. Genet Resour Crop Evol 56, 85–97 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-008-9347-5

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