RAPD markers in diversity detection and variety identification of South Tunisian barley

RAPD (Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA) markers were applied to evaluate genetic diversity of South Tunisian barley accessions. Of the 49 fragments generated by 4 selected primers (OPA-04, OPA-18, UBC-490 and UBC-534) 42 appeared to be polymorphic. These RAPD bands were used to calculate Jaccard's distance coefficient for cluster analysis using an arithmetic averaging algorithm (UPGMA). The genetic distance of the 20 studied accessions ranged between 0.25 and 0.68. Of the accessions 39.5% have a wide genetic distance (more than 0.6) and 60.5% are characterized by a distance ranged between 0.3-0.6. The analysis of the hierarchical tree shows the presence of four ramifications thus translating great genetic diversity.