Polymorphism in wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum K) populations from Turkmenistan

Starch gel electrophoresis was used to study intra- and interpopulation genetic diversity in Hordeum spontaneum K., the wild progenitor of cultivated barley. Sixteen loci, controlling nine water-soluble protein systems, were analyzed in more than 500 plants representing 27 populations of H. spontaneum from 11 ecogeographic zones. Electrophoretic study of 10-day seedlings revealed high genetic variability in wild barley. Shannon's information index and Nei's genetic diversity index were used to study structure and level of genetic variability in wild populations of H. spontaneum from Turkmenistan. The results were the following: (1) Nei's genetic diversity index was 0.084; (2) the mean genetic distance between populations was 0.066 and was not related to geographic distance; and (3) Shannon's information index showed that 52.68% of diversity is determined by intrapopulation variability, 22.20% by interpopulation variability within a geographic-climatic group, and 25.11% by interpopulation variability between different zones. The results obtained are compared with published data on wild barley populations from the eastern Mediterranean region.