Genetic Diversity and Identification of Molecular Markers Associated with Leaf Rust Resistance in Barley Genotypes

Genetic diversity and relationships among 19 Egyptian barley (Hordeum vulgare) genotypes including cultivars and promising lines were evaluated. The 19 genotypes were used to detect marker associated with resistance to leaf rust using simple sequence repeat (SSR). Greenhouse was screening to evaluated the seedling stage of leaf rust reaction for the studied genotypes and the field screening analysis was carried out in the Experimental Research Station of Sakha during two growing seasons 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 to evaluate some morphological traits and adult leaf rust reaction among 19 barley genotypes. The genotypes were highly diverse in leaf rust reaction; Giza 131,133,132,136,137, line 6 and line 7 were resistant. Principal components analysis PCA was performed explaining about 53.34 % of total variance which was highly informative. SSR marker, Bmag692, discriminate the resistance and susceptible barley genotypes which it could be useful for the genetic diversity studies of leaf rust in barley. These results will be useful for barley management in terms of biodiversity protection and design of new crosses for disease resistance to leaf rust breeding program.