Table 1 A sample of composite cross and landrace diversity analysis for crops in Hereditas

Barley

Significant geographical differentiation associated with selection pressures among subpopulations in a composite cross (CCXXI) –as shown by isozyme markers– which increases as generations advance

[31]

Lacking significant differences for phenotypic diversity (except for aleurone color out of six characteristics) either among 10 regions or among altitudes (<  2000 – >  3501) as well as among agro-ecozones but most of the variance attributed to populations in 51 landrace accessions from Ethiopia

[32]

High morphological variation within 10 regions and altitudes (particularly above 2000 m a.s.l.) in Ethiopia. Clustering of accessions did not show grouping on the basis of regions of origin

[33]

Wheat

The variation of 13 qualitative or quantitative morphological characters of 293 tetraploid and hexaploid wheat landraces diverged from region to region in Ethiopia. Some of these characters had a localized concentration while others lack a clear distribution pattern. Likewise, a clinal variation pattern was noted for host plant resistance to powdery mildew; i.e., increasing resistance frequency from north to south and Arussi-Bale Highlands showing a concentration of intermediate resistance

[34]

Durum wheat

The first axis of a principal component analysis demonstrated that morpho-physiological variation was related to weather variables affecting drought and heat stress in germplasm from Ethiopia and Syrian germplasm, and to maximum temperatures in germplasm from Turkey

[35]

Spike density was the only characteristic showing significant differences among Ethiopian regions for 27 landrace populations (being lax spikes noted frequently in Gojam), while glume color and beak length changed significantly according to altitude

[36]

Sorghum

Compact panicles frequently found in relatively dry regions, whereas loose panicles were widely noted in relatively wet and humid regions, thus showing the adaptive significance of panicle compactness and shape

[37]

Significant allele frequency differences among 48 accessions from 13 regions of origin and 3 adaptation zones (lowlands, intermediate and highlands) in Ethiopia. A Nei’s unbiased genetic distance resulting dendrogram constructed as well as the biplot of the first two principal components distinguished three regions. Gene flow was high among adaptation zones

[38]

A higher proportion of Ethiopian landraces sharing similar altitude classes and similar ecosites were grouped together after cluster analysis based on ordinal variables. Panicle compactness and shape contributed relatively more than other characteristics to altitudinal and ecological differentiation, thus showing the adaptive significance of both characteristics

[39]

The clustering from the analysis of molecular variance on 27 accessions was based on four ethnic groups (Soli, Chikunda, Lozi and Tonga), which are associated with collecting sites in Zambia. Most accessions were thus grouped according to their collecting sites.

[40]

Tef

60 Ethiopian populations (comprising 3000 lines) showed significant regional variation for 10 (59% of total evaluated) quantitative traits. Significant clinal variation among altitudes for only six (35%) of these traits. Such results suggest that peasants across regions grow different agro-pheno-morphic types irrespective of altitude

[41]

Amochi

Analysis of molecular variance –based on 167 amplified fragment length polymorphic loci scored from four primer pair combinations split 70.5, 16.7 and 12.8% of the variability between altitudes, as well as between and within populations, respectively, in this Ethiopian tuberous crop

[42]

Noug

Genetic distances based on microsatellites were smaller between populations of neighboring regions in this Ethiopian oil crop, thus placing the UPGMA clustering the populations from neighboring regions closer than those from farther apart areas, and keeping the contiguity of these regions

[43]