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Understanding the genetic diversity of existing genetic resources at the DNA level is an effective approach for germplasm conservation and utilization in breeding programs. However, the patterns of genetic diversity and population structure remain poorly characterized, making germplasm conservation and breeding efforts difficult to succeed. Thus, this study is aimed to evaluate the genetic diversity and population structure of 49 barley accessions collected from different geographic origins in Ethiopia. Twelve SSR markers were used to analyze all accessions and a total of 61 alleles were found, with a mean of 5.08 alleles per locus. The analysis pointed out the existence of moderate to high values of polymorphic information content ranging from 0.39 to 0.91 and the mean Shannon diversity index(I) was 1.25, indicating that they were highly informative markers. The highest Euclidean distance (1.32) was computed between accession 9950 and two accessions (247011 and 9949), while the lowest Euclidean distance (0.00) was estimated between accessions 243191 and 243192. The result of molecular variance analysis revealed that the highest variation was found among accessions (47) relative to within accessions (44) and among geographic origins (9). Cluster analysis grouped the 49 barley accessions into three major clusters regardless of their geographic origin which could be due to the presence of considerable gene flow (2.72). The result of the STRUCTURE analysis was consistent with neighbor-joining clustering and principal coordinate analysis. Generally, this study concluded that the variation among accessions was more important than the difference in geographical regions to develop an appropriate conservation strategy and for parental selection to use in breeding programs. This information will be helpful for barley conservation and breeding, and it may speed up the development of new competing barley varieties.

Background Evaluation of the extent of genetic variation within and between the populations of crop genetic resources are of paramount importance in any breeding program. An experiment aimed at assessing the extent of variation among barley lines and the degree of association between hordein polypeptide and agronomic traits was hence executed. Methods Field experiment was conducted in six environments between 2017–2019 involving 19 barley lines. Hordein bands were separated using vertical Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate Poly- acrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Results The analysis of variance revealed significant variation among lines and wider range units were observed for the agronomic traits. The line (Acc# 16,811–6) was superior, producing the highest grain yield (2.97 ton ha −1 ) across environments, 3.6 ton ha −1 at Holleta, and 1.93 ton ha −1 at Chefedonsa. At Arsi Negelle a different line Acc# 17146–9 was the highest yielding (3.15ton ha −1 ). SDS-PAGE-based analysis of barley lines separated 12 hordein bands between C (four bands) and B (eight bands) subunits. Interestingly bands 52, 46a, and 46b were uniquely conserved in the four naked barley lines (Acc#16809–14,16956–11, 17240–3, 17244–19). A considerably high proportion of genetic diversity within the populations than among the populations could be a repercussion of high gene flow which substantiates the longstanding and dominant informal seed exchange system among the farmers. The significant positive association between grain yield and band 50 evocates the expression of this allele may code for higher grain yield. The negative association between days to maturity and band 52 perhaps stipulates earliness in barely lines upon the manifestation of the band. Band 52 and 60 appeared to be associated with more than one agronomic trait (days to maturity and thousand kernel weight; grain filling period and grain yield respectively) and could be the result of pleiotropic characteristics of the genes residing in these banding regions. Conclusion The barley lines exhibited substantial variation for hordein protein and agronomic traits. However, imparted the need for the implementation of decentralized breeding as a consequence of genotype-by-environment interaction. Significant hordein polypeptide and agronomic traits association advocated the utilization of hordein as a protein marker and perhaps consider them in the parental line selection.

Evaluation of the genetic diversity and an understanding of the genetic structure and relationships of chickpea genotypes are valuable to design efficient germplasm conservation strategies and crop breeding programs. Information is limited, in these regards, for Ethiopian chickpea germplasms. Therefore, the present study was carried out to estimate the genetic diversity, population structure, and relationships of 152 chickpea genotypes using simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers. Twenty three SSR markers exhibited polymorphism producing a total of 133 alleles, with a mean of 5.8 alleles per locus. Analyses utilizing various genetic-based statistics included pairwise population Nei’s genetic distance, heterozygosity, Shannon’s information index, polymorphic information content, and percent polymorphism. These analyses exemplified the existence of high genetic variation within and among chickpea genotypes. The 152 genotypes were divided into two major clusters based on Nei’s genetic distances. The exotic genotypes were grouped in one cluster exclusively showing that these genotypes are distinct to Ethiopian genotypes, while the patterns of clustering of Ethiopian chickpea genotypes based on their geographic region were not consistent because of the seed exchange across regions. Model-based population structure clustering identified two discrete populations. These finding provides useful insight for chickpea collections and ex-situ conservation and national breeding programs for widening the genetic base of chickpea.

Barley is considered to have Ethiopia as its center of diversity, and it is among the most prominent cereal crops cultivated across different agroecology in the country. However, the available germplasm in the country has not been studied much compared to the number of accessions under conservation and the expected diversity of crops in the country. This study was therefore conducted to estimate the phenotypic variability and association of morphoagronomic traits among 49 barley accessions. The experiment was conducted in 2021 using a 7 × 7 simple lattice design. The results of the analysis of variance indicated significant differences among the accessions for all traits. Moreover, with a mean of 4.02 t·ha −1 , the variation in accessions for grain yield ranged from 2.18 to 6.89 t·ha −1 . The phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation varied in the range between 7.25% (days to maturity) and 35.18% (weight of kernels per spike) and 6.61% (peduncle length) and 32.25% (weight of kernels per spike), respectively. Broad‐sense heritability and genetic advance as a percentage of mean varied from 43.18 (number of fertile tillers) to 92.5% (days to heading) and 11.87% (peduncle length) to 60.99% (weight of kernel per spike), respectively. Grain yield had positive phenotypic and genotypic correlations with the majority of traits. Moreover, the number of spikelets per spike followed by the number of fertile tillers, thousand kernel weight, and number of kernels per spike had strong positive associations with grain yield and they had a direct, positive genotypic effect on grain yield. Consequently, while selecting accessions for high grain yields, these traits should be considered as well. The Euclidian distances of accessions estimated from quantitative traits ranged from 1.07 to 9.24, and the accessions were clustered into six distinct clusters. Clusters V (32.65%), II (26.5%), VI (24.49%), and IV (12.25%) consisted of the largest proportion of accessions, whereas Clusters I and III consisted of one accession each. From principal components’ analysis, 79.65% of the variance was explained by three main components with eigenvalues greater than one. Thus, the current findings suggest that there is wide genetic variation among accessions which may be used for crop improvement and the information generated could also be utilized for genetic conservation.

In order to implement breeding and conservation measures, it is crucial to evaluate the extent of genetic diversity. Hence, this study aimed to evaluate the genetic diversity and population structure of 31 yam accessions collected from various agro‐ecologies in Ethiopia based on 10 SSR markers. Our results showed the existence of a wide range of genetic diversity among the yam accessions. A total of 72 alleles were amplified and the number of alleles per marker ranged from 5 to 11, with an average of 7.2. The average values of expected and observed heterozygosity were 0.38 and 0.30, respectively. The average polymorphic information content per marker was found to be 0.30, indicating the markers are reasonably informative towards detecting the genetic diversity among accessions. The level of population polymorphism was found to vary from 68.06% (Sheka) to 97.22% (Bench‐Maji and Gambella), with an average of 85.2% among populations. Accessions from Bench‐Maji and Gambella resulted in higher values for all diversity indices; hence, this area can thus be considered a potential site for in situ conservation. Analysis of molecular variance showed that the within‐population variations contributed more to the observed genetic diversity. Similar results were also evident in the multivariate analyses, in which accessions were grouped without a distinct pattern of geographic origins. The high within‐population variation indicated the potentiation of on‐farm diversity for establishing a breeding and conservation program. The result showed that the SSR markers used in this study were efficient and informative for genetic diversity study of yams. The pattern of diversity across the collection sites showed that Bench‐Maji and Gambella populations resulted in higher values for the genetic diversity parameters assessed, and these areas could thus be considered as a potential conservation site for diverse yam species.

The genetic diversity of common bean accessions were assessed using seed storage protein markers. At regional level, accessions from the two major growing regions showed the highest level of gene diversity (H = 0.322, I = 0.485, and H = 0.312, I = 0.473), which can be exploited for the future improvement of the crop. Based on phaseolin, the major storage protein in common bean, the majority of the accessions (86%) were grouped under Mesoamerican gene pool. Seed proteins were also used to differentiate various Phaseolus species, indicating the usefulness of seed storage proteins in species identification in this genus.

Hot pepper ( L.) is an economically important crop in Ethiopia. Wide variability in hot pepper germplasm in Ethiopia is expected due to the presence of diverse environmental conditions and variation in farming systems. The present study was carried out to evaluate the resistance of 75 hot pepper accessions to wilt disease and assess their genetic diversity using SSR markers. Out of 75 accessions tested, the present study identified 23 accessions that showed resistance (R) with the value of 1-10% disease incidence. The genetic diversity assessment using 13 polymorphic SSR markers allowed the detection of 111 clear and scorable bands. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 5 to 13, with an average of 8.54. The PIC value ranged from 0.27 to 0.87 with an average of 0.59. The gene diversity indices were highly variable across SSR loci and ranged from 0.29 to 0.88 with mean genetic diversity of 0.62. Observed heterozygosity was also highly variable between loci (0.01-0.45) indicating that the accessions were not fixed to homozygosity. Furthermore, genetic diversity parameters were estimated among populations by grouping accessions based on their origin. Within populations, the PIC value ranged from 0.31 to 0.77. The genetic distances among the eight populations ranged from 0.15 to 0.48. The observed highest genetic diversity (0.80) in the Amhara region (Gojam) may indicate this area as the primary site for designing in situ conservation for this crop in Ethiopia. The research findings provide baseline information on disease resistance germplasm sources to be used for the breeding program, as well as the status of genetic diversity of the accessions for efficient conservation and proper utilization of the existing genetic resources in the country.

Understanding the genetic diversity of existing genetic resources at the DNA level is an effective approach for germplasm conservation and utilization in breeding programs. However, the patterns of genetic diversity and population structure remain poorly characterized, making germplasm conservation and breeding efforts difficult to succeed. Thus, this study is aimed to evaluate the genetic diversity and population structure of 49 barley accessions collected from different geographic origins in Ethiopia. Twelve SSR markers were used to analyze all accessions and a total of 61 alleles were found, with a mean of 5.08 alleles per locus. The analysis pointed out the existence of moderate to high values of polymorphic information content ranging from 0.39 to 0.91 and the mean Shannon diversity index(I) was 1.25, indicating that they were highly informative markers. The highest Euclidean distance (1.32) was computed between accession 9950 and two accessions (247011 and 9949), while the lowest Euclidean distance (0.00) was estimated between accessions 243191 and 243192. The result of molecular variance analysis revealed that the highest variation was found among accessions (47) relative to within accessions (44) and among geographic origins (9). Cluster analysis grouped the 49 barley accessions into three major clusters regardless of their geographic origin which could be due to the presence of considerable gene flow (2.72). The result of the STRUCTURE analysis was consistent with neighbor-joining clustering and principal coordinate analysis. Generally, this study concluded that the variation among accessions was more important than the difference in geographical regions to develop an appropriate conservation strategy and for parental selection to use in breeding programs. This information will be helpful for barley conservation and breeding, and it may speed up the development of new competing barley varieties.

Information on the diversity changes occurring in farmers' field overtime is very important for effective genetic resource conservation and use. Thus, this study was initiated to investigate the phenotypic diversity changes between the current (2017) and previous chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) collections (1979-1983) of the Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia. An experiment was conducted using simple lattice design with two replications at Debra Zeit Agricultural Research Center for two consecutive years (2018/2019 to 2019/2020). Genetic erosion of 30.4% to 100% was recorded in chickpea for the past 35 years in the study areas. Shannon-Weaver diversity index estimates of black seeded and ivory white seeded chickpea types decreased from 1.99 to 0.69 and 1.33 to 0.0 in the past 35 years, respectively. In previous collections, 25.8% of black and 6.5% of white-coated genotypes were observed, while these chickpea types were rare (black 6.5%) or unobtainable (white 0.0%) in current collections. There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) between mean of current and previous collections for plant height, days to 50% flowering and podding, days to 90% maturity, number of primary and secondary branches, number of pods per plant, thousand Seed weight, and grain yield tested at the individual site. Cluster analysis showed that genotypes were clustered with respect to the time of collections and irrespective of their source of origins. Generally, chickpea genotypes of current and previous collections were distinct from one another. Black and white seeded chickpea landraces were vulnerable to genetic erosion and it is recommended to implement immediate restoration of chickpea landraces to recover and maintain the lost chickpea landraces in the studied region.

Understanding the genetic diversity of existing genetic resources at the DNA level is an effective approach for germplasm conservation and utilization in breeding programs. However, the patterns of genetic diversity and population structure remain poorly characterized, making germplasm conservation and breeding efforts difficult to succeed. Thus, this study is aimed to evaluate the genetic diversity and population structure of 49 barley accessions collected from different geographic origins in Ethiopia. Twelve SSR markers were used to analyze all accessions and a total of 61 alleles were found, with a mean of 5.08 alleles per locus. The analysis pointed out the existence of moderate to high values of polymorphic information content ranging from 0.39 to 0.91 and the mean Shannon diversity index(I) was 1.25, indicating that they were highly informative markers. The highest Euclidean distance (1.32) was computed between accession 9950 and two accessions (247011 and 9949), while the lowest Euclidean distance (0.00) was estimated between accessions 243191 and 243192. The result of molecular variance analysis revealed that the highest variation was found among accessions (47) relative to within accessions (44) and among geographic origins (9). Cluster analysis grouped the 49 barley accessions into three major clusters regardless of their geographic origin which could be due to the presence of considerable gene flow (2.72). The result of the STRUCTURE analysis was consistent with neighbor-joining clustering and principal coordinate analysis. Generally, this study concluded that the variation among accessions was more important than the difference in geographical regions to develop an appropriate conservation strategy and for parental selection to use in breeding programs. This information will be helpful for barley conservation and breeding, and it may speed up the development of new competing barley varieties.