Novel Single-Nucleotide Variants for Morpho-Physiological Traits Involved in Enhancing Drought Stress Tolerance in Barley

Authors

Ibrahim S. Elbasyoni, Damanhour University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Shamseldeen Eltaher, University of Sadat City
Sabah Morsy, Damanhour University
Alsayed M. Mashaheet, Damanhour University
Ahmed M. Abdallah, Damanhour University
Heba G. Ali, Agricultural Research Center, 9 Gamma Street-Giza, Cairo 12619, Egypt
Samah A. Mariey, Agricultural Research Center, 9 Gamma Street-Giza, Cairo 12619, Egypt
P. Stephen Baenziger, University of Nebraska at LincolnFollow
Katherine Anna Frels, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

11-13-2022

Citation

Elbasyoni, I.S.; Eltaher, S.; Morsy, S.; Mashaheet, A.M.; Abdallah, A.M.; Ali, H.G.; Mariey, S.A.; Baenziger, P.S.; Frels, K. Novel Single-Nucleotide Variants for Morpho-Physiological Traits Involved in Enhancing Drought Stress Tolerance in Barley. Plants 2022, 11, 3072. https://doi.org/10.3390/ plants11223072

Comments

Open access.

Abstract

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) thrives in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world; never-theless, it suffers large grain yield losses due to drought stress. A panel of 426 lines of barley was evaluated in Egypt under deficit (DI) and full irrigation (FI) during the 2019 and 2020 growing seasons. Observations were recorded on the number of days to flowering (NDF), total chlorophyll content (CH), canopy temperature (CAN), grain filling duration (GFD), plant height (PH), and grain yield (Yield) under DI and FI. The lines were genotyped using the 9K Infinium iSelect single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) genotyping platform, which resulted in 6913 high-quality SNPs. In conjunction with the SNP markers, the phenotypic data were subjected to a genome-wide association scan (GWAS) using Bayesian-information and Linkage-disequilibrium Iteratively Nested Keyway (BLINK). The GWAS results indicated that 36 SNPs were significantly associated with the studied traits under DI and FI. Furthermore, eight markers were significant and common across DI and FI water regimes, while 14 markers were uniquely associated with the studied traits under DI. Under DI and FI, three (11_10326, 11_20042, and 11_20170) and five (11_20099, 11_10326, 11_20840, 12_30298, and 11_20605) markers, respectively, had pleiotropic effect on at least two traits. Among the significant markers, 24 were annotated to known barley genes. Most of these genes were involved in plant responses to environmental stimuli such as drought. Overall, nine of the significant markers were previously reported, and 27 markers might be considered novel. Several markers identified in this study could enable the prediction of barley accessions with optimal agronomic performance under DI and FI.