Allelic variation at the EF-G locus among northern Moroccan six-rowed barleys

A germplasm panel of 52 six-rowed barley landraces from northern Morocco was analysed by a Cleaved Amplified Polymorphic Sequences (CAPS) assay of a fragment of the elongation factor G (EF-G) gene. Forty-nine of these accessions carried allele A, and the other three carried allele D. The latter all originated from a narrow region close to the border with Algeria, whereas the former were represented across the whole collection area. Since six-rowed D allele carriers are present in North Africa, along with both two-rowed cultivated and wild barleys, it is likely that the European six-rowed barley varieties carrying the D allele have Moroccan parentage.