Inheritance Pattern of Earliness and Yield Related-Traits in Spring Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

To understand the genetic patterns of the physio-morphological traits for barley grain yield, six-generations (P1, P2, F1, F2, BC1, and BC2) were used to determine the type of gene action in the four barley crosses. Grain yield showed a strong positive association (r = 0.83 and 1) with Grain Filling Rate in Giza121/RIL1 and Giza126/RIL2 crosses, respectively. The relationship between yield and earliness was not consistent with crosses and positive (r) values were quite low. It should be possible to select early-maturing and high-yielding segregates with high 100- kernel weight. The results indicated that the dominance effect [dd] was more important and greater than the additive effect [aa] and [ad] for most traits. Positive heterosis over the mid- and better- parent was quite similar for the most traits, except for heading and maturity dates, that showed negative heterotic effects. The inbreeding depression was high significant and positive for Grain Filling Rate, chlorophyll contents, Flag Leaf area and 100- kernel weight. On the other hand, it was a negatively significant for the earliness trait (HD, MD, and GFP). The lack of uniformity for estimates of inbreeding depression can be explained by environmental variation and to its influence on the type of gene action. Narrow-sense heritability ranged from 13.3% for Grain Filling Period in Giza12/RIL1 to 66.6% for heading dates in Giza121/RIL2 crosses. Genetic advance estimates were low due to lack of additive variance. The crosses Giza121/RIL1 and Giza126/RIL2 would be of interest in a breeding program, for improving characteristics of earliness, yield, and its components.