Mapping efforts in winterhardiness and stripe rust were discussed in previous sections. Skeleton maps of chromosomes 1 and 2 in Harrington x Morex, showing distribution of AFLP and RFLP markers. We also collaborated with Keygene in using AFLPs to assess diversity in a collection of barley mapping population parents. Ultimately, this effort may yield useful information regarding the genome location and associated QTL of the principal determinants of defining major germplasm groups. In the context of an offensive breeding strategy, we used QTL information to identify matings that would generate progeny with a reasonable probability of carrying all favorable alleles for grain yield, malt extract, and grain dormancy.
High yield is an obvious target.
High malt extract is a prerequisite for a malting barley. A lack of dormancy is desirable in most Pacific Northwest environments. All three traits show quantitative inheritance and were the subject of QTL analyses in the Steptoe x Morex mapping population. Sixteen markers defining yield and malt extract QTL have been assayed on the entire population. A subset of 24 lines representing combinations of favorable and unfavorable alleles, together with Steptoe, Morex, SM73, SM145 and a set of seven lines from the original population representing phenotypic selections for yield, extract, and yield and extract, were planted in a three replicate experiment at Klamath Falls, Oregon in 1995.