Association Mapping of Some Phenological Traits in Barley under Salt Stress

Current research was performed to identify molecular markers associated to phonological traits including days to tillering, days to stem elongation, days to heading, days from stem elongation to heading, grain filling period and days to physiological maturity based on 407 AFLP and SSR markers in 148 barley cultivars by association mapping. This experiment was conducted in two alpha lattice designs with five incomplete blocks in two replications under normal and salt stress (EC=12 dsm-1) conditions in Agriculture and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Yazd, Iran in 2015-16. Association mapping was evaluated based on mixed linear model (MLM) using Structure and Tassel soft wares. Based on the 407 markers used in this study, population genetic structure subdivided into two subpopulations (K=2) that barplot results also confirmed it. In association mapping based on MLM, 4 and 46 markers showed significant relation with assessed traits under normal and salt stress, respectively and explained considerable variations of studied traits. In this study, some co-localized QTLs were identified for studied traits. Common markers between of traits can be due to pleiotropic effects or linkage between of genomic regions involved in these traits. Results of the current study presented useful information about the genetic basis of the studied traits and can be used in different barley breeding programs including marker-assisted selection.