For ex-situ germplasm conservation purposes, the concept of genetic diversity being concentrated in certain geographic regions is useful for the conscious selection of diverse forms. Numerous studies of barley and other major corp species often confirm the concentration of simply-inherited, phenotypicallyobvious markers within the Vavilovian centres of diversity/origin. However, more recent studies of electrophoretic patterns and or more complexly-inherited traits do not always confirm the same geographic patterns. Unfortunately, few studies of world germplasm collections have screened a range of agro/morphological/electrophoretic patterns using the same germplasm collection as a consistent base for evaluation purposes, making precise genetic estimates of diverse geographic areas difficult. A diverse collection of 1 118 spring-sown barley cultivars was, therefore, evaluated for both agro/morphological and biochemical genetic markers in an effort to identify appropriate criteria for the construction of a comprehensive ex-situ germplasm collection. On the basis of both agro/morphological and biochemical data, countries whose cultivated barley germplasm was identified as diverse and genetically distinct were Algeria, Afghanistan, Argentina, Ethiopia, India, Peru and Turkey. However, within broad limits, separate cluster analyses of the agro-morphological and electrophoretic patterns identified dissimilar groups of countries, which demonstrated that a collection strategy based solely on country of origin is inappropriate.