DISCRIMINATING BETWEEN BARLEY GENOTYPES USING MICROSATELLITE MARKERS

Eleven microsatellite loci were used to survey 24 barley genotypes rep resenting 23 cultivars and a breeding line in official trials. Three s eparate combinations of four microsatellites had overall probabilities of identity of less than 1 in 1000 and could distinguish between all 24 barley genotypes. It is shown that the microsatellites could distin guish genotypes with the same pedigree and also that patterns of discr imination were different from those obtained from botanical descriptor s. The stability of microsatellites across different generations was d emonstrated by a retrospective analysis of the pedigree of Golden Prom ise. One of the parents of Maythorpe, the immediate ancestor of Golden Promise, was shown to be Irish Goldthorpe rather than Goldthorpe, the reby resolving conflicting published pedigrees.