LOCATING GENOTYPES AND GENES FOR ABIOTIC STRESS TOLERANCE IN BARLEY -A STRATEGY USING MAPS, MARKERS AND THE WILD-SPECIES

This paper reviews the results of several years' study by a multidisci plinary team comprising geneticists, physiologists, ecologists and sta tisticians of abiotic stress tolerance in barley. The strategy involve s genetic fingerprinting of wild barley lines (Hordeum spontaneum C. K och) from a range of habitats and testing these for responses to abiot ic stresses under controlled conditions. Multiple regression analysis is used to identify genetic markers associated with experimentally det ermined stress responses. These data are related to site-of-origin eco geographic data and used to identify areas of useful wild variation. M arkers associated with traits of interest can be mapped in genetic map ping populations, revealing areas of the barley genome carrying genes controlling stress responses. This paper highlights our work on associ ations of amplied fragment length polymorphisms with salt tolerance an d describes some initial results of the use of SSRs in studying drough t tolerance in barley.