The Evaluation of genetic parameters of some grain physicochemical characteristics in wild and cultivated barley genotypes

Barley is one of the most important crops that is cultivated in many areas and is mainly used in livestock and poultry feed and malt production industry. Some physical and biochemical properties of grain are very effective on the quantity and quality of the grain, malt production, and its nutritional properties.

In this study, seven Iranian and European barley cultivars (Hordeum vulgare subsp. Vulgare) and two wild barley genotypes (Hordeum vulgare subsp. Spontaneum (K. Koch)) were studied for some physicochemical characteristics of the grain.

Based on the results, genotypes were significantly different for all studied traits except moisture content and percentage of soluble sugar, and wild genotypes showed a higher mean for most traits. Cluster analysis divided the genotypes into three groups. The lowest and highest values of genetic variation coefficient were obtained for moisture content and iron content, and the lowest and highest values of phenotypic and environmental variation coefficients were recorded for grain thickness and grain iron content, respectively. Broad-sense heritability was estimated to be high for ash percentage, grain length, width and thickness, and thousand kernel weight. Ash percentage and thousand kernel weight had a higher percentage of mean genetic advance. The coefficient of phenotypic variation of all traits was higher than the coefficient of genetic variation. The small difference between the coefficient of phenotypic and genotypic variations for length, width, thickness, and weight of thousand kernel weight indicates the greater influence of genetic factors on the control of these traits. On the other hand, the genetic and phenotypic correlation coefficients of some traits were significant, which indicates the possibility of simultaneous breeding of the two traits.

According to the results and the significant differences in physicochemical characteristics, the selection of a wild genotype and a cultivated variety with a suitable genetic distance based on ash percentage, iron and zinc content, grain protein and high thousand kernel weight was found to be suitable for creating a segregating population.