Barley production is essential in Egypt. In the present study, 15 different six-rowed Egyptian barley cultivars were studied. To differentiate between the different cultivars under study in terms of morphological characteristics and ISSR, molecular characterization reactions were carried out. Moreover, four cultivars (Giza 123, Giza 126, Giza 136, and Giza 138) were selected for further studies using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Computational analysis of the DNA barcoding sequences of the two plastid markers rbcL and matK was executed, and the results were deposited in the NCBI database. The morphological traits showed low statistical significance among the different cultivars under study via the data collected from two seasons, suggesting that the mean field performance of these Egyptian cultivars may be equal under these conditions. The results showed that the phylogenetic tree was divided into four groups, one of which contained the most closely related genotypes in the genetic distance, including Giza 124, Giza 130, Giza 138, Giza 136, and Giza 137, which converge in the indicative uses of farmers. The seed coat of the studied cultivars was “rugose”. The elevation folding of the rugose pattern ranged from 11 ± 1.73 µm (Giza 126) to 14.67 ± 2.43 µm (Giza 123), suggesting variation in seed quality and its uses in feed and the food industry. According to the similarity matrix of ISSR analysis, the highest similarity value (93%) was recorded between Giza 133 and Giza 132, as well as between Giza 2000 and Giza 126. On the other hand, the lowest similarity value (80%) was recorded between Giza 130 and (Giza 133 and Giza 132), indicating that these cultivars were distantly related. Polymorphism information content (PIC) ranged from 0.26 for the primer ISSR UBC 835 to 0.37 for the primers ISSR UBC 814 and ISSR UBC 840. The current study showed that the matK gene is more mutable than the rbcL gene among the tested cultivars.

Grain yield and its components of 14 hull-less barley genotypes were evaluated in two seasons (2013/2014 and 2014/2015) in five locations (Nubaria, Sakha, Gimmeza, Quntra sharq and Giza) in Egypt. Grain yield ranged from 3.96 to 6.56 t/ha for "L6" and "L3" promising lines. respectively, with grand average of 5.11 t/ha. Giza 135, Giza 136 cultivar L3and L2 promising line produced highest grain yield and its components. On the other hand, the least genotype "L6" in grain yield was had least values in most yield and its components. Pooled analysis of variance revealed significant effect of S x L interaction and the seasons had greater effect than location, Results also showed significant G x S x L interaction, this means there were differences in relative performance of genotypes over season-location combinations or in other word there were changes genotype x location effect among seasons. According to stability parameters (bi, S2d, R2, C.V %) and yield average results revealed that L2, L3, L6 promising lines and Giza 135 and Giza 136 showed average stability with general adaptability. However, L8, Giza 129 and Giza 131 were adapted to high yielding environments. On the other side, L4, L5 and L7 promising lines are adapted to low yielding environments.

Barley performance varies among genotypes and/or due to the different response of a genotype to the prevailing climatic factors where it is grown. The aim of the present investigation was to study the performance of some promising lines and new varieties as well as some cultivars of hull-less barley under the conditions of five locations of Egypt, to identify which one could be grown and produce high grain yield all over locations or in a specific location. This investigation was carried out at five locations (Nubaria, Sakha, Gimmeza, Quntra Sharq and Giza) in two seasons (2013/2014 and 2014/2015) using a randomized complete block design with three replications and 14 genotypes, i.e. 9 promising lines, three cultivated varieties Giza 129, Giza 130 and Giza 131 and the two new varieties Giza 135 and Giza 136. Results indicated a negative and significant correlation between either days to flowering or days to maturity and grain yield and its components in both seasons and combined across seasons. The results showed that L2 and L3 are promising lines, Giza 135 and Giza 136 new varieties produced high yield and its components. From these results it could be concluded that the most suitable genotypes for Nubaria location were L2, L3, L4 and Giza 136 while the most suitable ones for Sakha and Gimmeza locations were L2, L3 and Giza 136. However, Giza 136, Giza 135 and L3 were the most suitable genotypes for Quntra Sharq location. Meanwhile, L2, L3, L7 and Giza 136 genotypes were superior at Giza location. This means that L3 genotype and Giza 136 cultivar had stable productivity under the conditions of these locations. Also L3 genotype was a promising line to be released as a good variety in general and under high productive environments in particular. However, Giza 136 was stable and also adapted to less productive environments.

Egyptian Journal of Botany http://ejbo.journals.ekb.eg/ 26 T HE GENETIC diversity of some Egyptian barley cultivars was assessed using twelve primers from the inter-retrotransposons amplified polymorphism (IRAP) marker system. In addition, moisture content, crude, lipids, ash, and crude fiber contents were measured in the studied cultivars. The obtained results showed that the average protein content was 11.19%, and the highest one was recorded for Giza135 cultivar with an average value of 12.3% to a lesser extent in Giza 129 (8.7%). Sixty-three IRAP bands, scores of 33.3% and 66.7% of monomorphic and polymorphic bands were recorded, respectively. The polymorphism heterozygosity index values IRAP marker traits were ranged as H (0.04--0.47), PIC (0.04-0.36), E (7.50-11.75) HAV (0.00-0.01), MI (0.04-0.07), D (0.04-0.61), and R (0.5.-6.86). The proportion of appearing polymorphism was 63%. This multiplicity was used to measure the difference between the studied cultivars; however, there were no unique bands in all cultivars for each IRAP primer. There was a similarity between the PCA, heat map, and dendrogram distributions of Giza123, Giza124, Giza125, and Giza126. The Bioplot analysis divided the cultivars into four groups. The data revealed a significant difference, among the surveyed varieties of barley cultivars in Egypt, at the molecular level.