Duplicate accessions in gene banks may be increasing while funding resources to maintain them are not always available. This research investigated the ability of agronomic and morphological descriptors for detecting duplicates among 138 repatriated putative Nordic barley germplasm and compared their use with results from previous research with microsatellite markers. These accessions were initially grouped into 36 potential duplicates according to passport data but further analysis with microsatellites reduce them to 22 genetically homogeneous groups. The analysis with 26 agronomic and morphological descriptors of putative Nordic spring barley accessions from nine gene banks was compared with a previous study with microsatellites. Each agronomic and morphological descriptor was weighed relative to its genetic determination with the aim of reducing the effect of environmental errors on genetic distances. Nonetheless, weighted and non-weighted genetic distances were significantly correlated (r = 0.956) but their respective correlations with genetic distances based on microsatellites were smaller (r = 0.526 and r = 0.498, respectively). Genetic distances based on agronomic and morphological descriptors were smaller than those based on microsatellites. The genetic distances based on agronomic and morphological descriptors showed a bimodal distribution, which was apparently due to the number of rows per spike. Our research demonstrated, nonetheless, the ability of genetic distances based on agronomic and morphological discriminators to detect genetic heterogeneity, although with reduced sensitivity compared with microsatellite markers. These results also suggest that grouping ensuing from either approach could reflect distinct patterns of diversity (due to different mutation rates and selection intensity) and are therefore complementary.