Genetic Variation Among Different Agropyron Species Based on Morphological and Chemical Indices

Agropyron is one of the most resistant plants to biotic and abiotic stresses. It plays an important role in forage yield in rangelands. Genetic variability based on different markers is the important step in crop improvement. In order to evaluate the genetic variation of different Agropyron species based on morphological and chemical traits, this experiment was carried out in the Agriculture and Natural Resources Research Center of Kermanshah. The tiller numbers, spike length, spikelet numbers, length of flag leaf, width of flag leaf, plant height, peduncle length, ash percentage, organic matter, fiber, dry matter, fat and crude protein were registered. Statistical analysis of data was done by SPSS software. According to cluster analysis the tetraploid genotypes were classified into 5 clusters. Based on principal components analysis the length of flag leaf, spike length and plant height, and among the chemical traits of the ash percentage, organic matter, and crude protein had the highest portions of variance. The genetic parameters such as PCV, GCV, ECV, Hb and Ga for length of flag leaf were 0.274, 0.169, 0.215, 0.382, 3.05 and for spike length were 30.96, 21.64,22.139, 0.48, 5.786 and for plant height were 0.16, 0.084, 0.136,0.276, 6.054, respectively.