RESEARCH ARTICLE Genetic diversity assessment of Bulgarian durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) landraces and modern cultivars using microsatellite markers Ganka Ganeva Æ Victor Korzun Æ Svetlana Landjeva Æ Zaprjanka Popova Æ Nikolai K. Christov Received: 19 July 2008 / Accepted: 30 July 2009 / Published online: 30 August 2009 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 Abstract The genetic diversity in a Triticum durum Desf. collection, consisting of 102 Bulgarian land- races, nine Bulgarian and 25 introduced cultivars was studied using 14 highly polymorphic microsatellite markers. A total of 100 alleles were identified, with an average of 7.14 alleles per marker. The gene diversity values (He) of the markers for the total samples ranged from 0.23 (WMS357 and WMS631) to 0.77 (WMS46), with an average of 0.52. Within the landraces that were collected from 18 sites in Southern Bulgaria showed 2– 11 alleles per locus with an average of 6.07. The microsatellite analysis suggests that the genetic diver- sity among landraces is lower compared to the diversity levels for durum wheat in countries close to the main centers of wheat domestication. Breeding activities have caused significant reduction of the allelic polymorphism, elimination of rare alleles, and increase in the number of common alleles and the frequency of dominating alleles. Keywords Genetic diversity Á Landrace Á Microsatellites Á Triticum durum Introduction Triticum durum Desf. is the second widespread Triticum species constituting 10–11% of the world wheat crop and accounting for about 8% of the total wheat production. The countries in the areas where the initial wheat domestication and cultivation took place (The Mediterranean and Southern Europe, The Balkans, North Africa, and South-Western Asia) are still among the leaders of durum wheat production (Ivanov 1927; Bozzini 1988; Srivastava et al. 1988; Wang et al. 2007). The durum wheat growing area is restricted because of the insufficient cold resistance and spring growth habits of most of the traditional and modern cultivars (Zhukovsky 1964). One of the most important sources of genetic material for improving plant adaptability and grain quality are the local populations, a product of the natural selection but also a result of the thorough domesti- cation and artificial selection carried out by genera- tions of farmers throughout the years. In Bulgaria, the durum wheat has been known since ancient times (Ivanov 1927). Seeds of durum wheat were present in archaeo-botanical materials dated to G. Ganeva Á S. Landjeva Institute of Genetics ‘‘Acad. Doncho Kostoff’’, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria Tzarigradsko shosse, 13 km, Sofia 1113, Bulgaria V. Korzun KWS LOCHOW GMBH, Grimsehl str. 31, 37574 Einbeck, Germany Z. Popova Institute for Plant Genetic Resources ‘‘K.Malkov’’, Sadovo 4122, Bulgaria N. K. Christov (&) AgroBioInstitute, 8 Dragan Tsankov Blvd., Sofia 1164, Bulgaria e-mail: nikolai_christov@abi.bg 123 Genet Resour Crop Evol (2010) 57:273–285 DOI 10.1007/s10722-009-9468-5