Determination of early-stage shoot and root traits of cultivated and wild barley genotypes

Abstract

Rapid shoot and root growth at the early developmental stage of barley is critical for maximising yield and access to water and plant nutrients, particularly in dryland environments. Determining genotypic variation in shoot and root traits at the early seedling stage is essential for germplasm identification. In this study, widely grown old and new barley cultivars and wild barley genotypes were grown in sand media under greenhouse conditions for four weeks. The differences in shoot and root traits between the genotypes, the broad sense heritability and the genetic parameters of these traits were determined. The genotypes showed statistically significant differences for all the traits studied except number of leaves. Old cultivars had higher shoot length, while new cultivars had higher shoot fresh and dry weight. The old cultivars, new cultivars and wild barley genotypes were characterised by root length, root fresh weight and specific root length, respectively. A high correlation was found between root weight and root volume, and it was determined that root volume was more influenced by root thickness than root length. Shoot fresh and dry weight, root fresh weight, root volume and specific root length had the highest broad sense heritability. Among the genotypes, cv. Tokak 157/37 showed potential as a donor for root length and cv. Durusu for root weight and root volume in breeding studies.

Keywords

• barley
• heritability
• root characters
• seedling characters
• wild barley