Wild and Traditional Barley Genomic Resources as a Tool for Abiotic Stress Tolerance and Biotic Relations

Giorgia Capasso, Giorgia Santini, Mariagioia Petraretti, Sergio Esposito and Simone Landi
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Giorgia Capasso: Department of Biology, University of Naples “Federico II”, Via Cinthia, I-80126 Napoli, Italy
Giorgia Santini: Department of Biology, University of Naples “Federico II”, Via Cinthia, I-80126 Napoli, Italy
Mariagioia Petraretti: Department of Biology, University of Naples “Federico II”, Via Cinthia, I-80126 Napoli, Italy
Sergio Esposito: Department of Biology, University of Naples “Federico II”, Via Cinthia, I-80126 Napoli, Italy
Simone Landi: Department of Biology, University of Naples “Federico II”, Via Cinthia, I-80126 Napoli, Italy

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 11, 1-15

Abstract: Barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of the main crops cultivated all over the world. As for other cereals, throughout the centuries barley was subjected by human breeding to genetic erosion phenomena, which guaranteed improved yields in organized (and then mechanized) agriculture; on the other hand, this selection weakened the ability of barley to survive under adverse environments. Currently, it is clear that climate change requires an urgent availability of crop varieties able to grow under stress conditions, namely limited irrigation, salinity, high temperatures, and other stresses. In this context, an important role could be played by wild relatives and landraces selected by farmers, particularly in specific field areas and/or climatic conditions. In this review, we investigated the origin of barley and the potentialities of wild varieties and landraces in different contexts, and their resilience to abiotic stress. The data obtained from Next Generation Sequencing technologies were examined to highlight the critical aspects of barley evolution and the most important features for abiotic stress tolerance. Furthermore, the potential of appropriate mycorrhiza is discussed under the view of the essential role played by these symbioses in field crops. The abilities of specific barley wild varieties and landraces may represent novel opportunities and suggest innovative strategies for the improvement of abiotic tolerance in crops and particularly in barley.

Keywords: Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare; Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum; Poaceae; landraces; mycorrhiza; crop adaptation; fungal symbiosis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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