Breeding value of spring barley varieties in terms of performance and plant structure elements

Abstract

The results of evaluation of the breeding value of 30 spring barley varieties of different genetic and geographical origin in terms of performance and plant structure elements in the Eastern Forest-Steppe of Ukraine in 2013-2016 are presented. Peculiarities of the factor effects and their interaction on the formation of the trait of interest were determined. Correlations between quantitative traits and plant performance, depending on hydrothermal growing conditions, were calculated. Varieties that are of greatest value for barley breeding as starting material were identified.

The aim and tasks of the study. To evaluate 30 spring barley varieties for performance, plant structure elements and to select the most valuable starting material.

Material and methods. The research was conducted in the Laboratory of Barley Breeding and Genetics of the Plant Production Institute named after VYa Yuriev of NAAS. Thirty spring barley varieties of different genetic and geographical origin were taken as the study material. Data were statistically processed by variance, correlation and cluster analyses.

Results and discussion. Analysis of variance revealed peculiarities of the factor effects and their interaction on the formation of the traits of interest. The 1000-grain weight was mainly determined by the hydrothermal conditions of a year, while the spike length, grain number per spike, grain weight per spike and grain unit mainly depended on the genotype. The productive tillering capacity and plant performance were determined by interaction of these two factors. Correlation analysis revealed a compensatory effect for the plant performance: under the favorable conditions in2016, a strong correlation was noted between the performance and productive tillering capacity (r = 0.77); a medium correlation - between the performance, grain number per spike and grain weight per spike (r = 0.28 and r = 0.34, respectively). Under the dry conditions in 2013, the correlations changed, namely: it decreased to an insignificant level between the performance and productive tillering capacity (r = 0.18) and increased to strong levels between the performance, grain number per spike and grain weight per spike (r = 0.73 and r = 0.75, respectively).

Cluster analysis categorized the investigated varieties into 4 clusters. Cluster 4 comprised varieties of the highest breeding value: Komandor, Mastvinster and Sebastian, combining high productive tillering capacity, grain weight per plant and grain unit.

Conclusions. Thus, the study selected varieties Komandor, Mastvinster, Kangoo and Sebastian as the most valuable starting material in terms of plant performance and its individual elements for spring barley breeding