Agronomic performance of mutant lines of winter two-rowed barley

Abstract

Abstract. The aim of this investigation was to study agronomic and morphological traits of winter two-rowed barley mutant lines in the M6 and M7 generations. Eight mutant lines, their parent – breeding line 244D and national standard cultivars – Obzor and Emon were evaluated in Complete Block Design with four replications. The research was conducted in the 2013/2014, 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 growing seasons in the experimental field of the Institute of Agriculture – Karnobat, Southeastern Bulgaria. The characters studied included days to heading, plant height, lodging, peduncle length, spike length, awn length, spikelet number per spike, grain number per spike, grain weight per spike, 1000 grains weight, grain yield, protein content, extract content and grading (>2.5mm). Mutant lines M1/3, M1/5 and M1/217 produced a significantly greater grain yield than the parent and standard cultivars. The improvement of grain yield was associated with increasing of spike length and grain weight per spike. The studied mutant lines were characterized with a high yield ability combined with other valuable agronomic traits and can be used in a breeding program for developing winter malting barley varieties.

Keywords

• barley
• mutation
• grain yield
• agronomic traits