Cytological study of Hordeum bulbosum L. in Iran

Hordeum bulbosum L. (Poaceae) is considered to be sources of useful alleles which can be used in cereal improvement. Thirty two native Iranian H. bulbosum were collected from different localities and were studied by karyotype analysis. We assessed the karyotype asymmetry of the Iranian bulbous barley populations and analyzed the data to look for their geographic distribution correlations. All of the studied populations were tetraploid (2n=4x=28) and the analysed parameters of karyotype of H. bulbosum support the autopolyploidy origin of the species with nearly symmetric karyotype. The results showed the most asymmetric karyotypes within northeast (Golestan) and northwest (Gardane-e Heiran) populations and the most symmetric karyotyps in populations from the west of Iran. Therefore, it can be assumed that the oldest populations are in the slopes of Zagros Mountains and the youngest germplasms occur in the northeast of this country. It can be concluded that the species originated from the west of Iran and distributed towards east and northeast.