Marker-assisted characterization of frost tolerance in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

Five molecular markers associated to two frost tolerance QTLs (Fr-H1 and Fr-H2) were tested both on nine Turkish accessions, classified by breeders as highly frost-tolerant, and on a previously described sample of 26 barleys, winter, facultative and spring. Accessions were characterized in terms of frost tolerance under both field conditions and artificial freezing test at -12 degrees C. The Turkish lines resulted to be equal or superior to the most tolerant European genotypes tested, showing that they can be used to improve the frost tolerance of the EU barley germplasm. The marker HvBM5A (Vrn-H1 and Fr-H1) resulted to be the best predictor for assisted selection within this germplasm, because of its high correlation between allelic variation and phenotypic traits. Only HvCBF4 of the three HvCBF markers tested at Fr-H2 was associated to the trait, but at lower significance than HvBM5A. The PCR-based molecular marker of Vrn-H1 can thus be used in barley breeding not only for selection of facultative and winter types, but also for fast routine selection of frost tolerant genotypes.