Evaluation of genetic diversity of agronomical traits in Hordeum spontaneum germplasm of Iran

Genetic diversity of many important traits has been limited in primary gene-pool of crop species causing vulnerability. Six-rowed barleys have a narrow genetic base. Ancestral species are important resources of new alleles for germplasm enhancement. Thirty five accessions of Hordeum spontaneum selected from barley collection of National Plant Gene-bank of Iran were evaluated during 3 years for agro-morphological traits. Auricle and stem pigmentation were the most variant of all qualitative traits based on Shannon index. Estimates of coefficient of variation for potential grain and forage yield were relatively high indicating the potential of the studied accessions of H. spontaneum for exploitation of genetic diversity. The first three principal components comprised 71.24% of the total variation of the data. The first principal component emphasized on higher yield, vigor and early maturity and second principal component indicated higher yield, vigor, and late maturity. Traits of grain yield, 100-kernel weight, days to head emergence, biological yield, and awn length had high broad-sense heritability from 73.78 to 80.44%, hence breeding for these traits would be of high efficiency. The results of cluster analysis based on the origin of accessions were in agreement with their geographical pattern.