In commercial barley cultivars meiotic crossover (CO) distribution is skewed to the distal regions of the paired chromosomes. This restricts recombination to these regions thereby reducing the potential genetic variation that can be exploited in plant breeding programs. The aim of this project was to develop experimental strategies that will enable the frequency and distribution of meiotic crossovers to be modified in order to generate progeny with novel gene combinations. Treatment with the histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A, led to significant modifications in crossover frequency in a concentration-dependent manner with lower concentrations not greatly impacting fertility, allowing for the extraction of fertile seeds. The genetic screening of a treated marker population at The James Hutton Institute (JHI), demonstrated subtle but significant shifts in the distribution of meiotic recombination, indicating that modifying recombination through chemicals applied via the transpiration stream is indeed feasible in barley and hence, possibly in other cereals. The cytological study of a barley desynpatic mutant \(des8\) in collaboration with JHI revealed that synapsis is normal despite reduced chiasma frequency. Genetic mapping studies are in progress to identify the mutant gene responsible for this phenotype which will help us to improve our current knowledge of meiosis in barley.