Assessment of Genetic Variations and Interrelationships Among Agronomic Traits in Advanced Breeding Barley Lines Under Salinity Condition

Abstract

merging of stress-tolerant and high-yielding crops became more decisive especially with presence of global population growing and climatic changes. Improving barley yield in adverse environments, selection of high-yielding genotypes should depend on performance and genetic variability among advanced ones under press as Ras-Sudr salinity water. Proposal materials were 45 advanced barley lines grown in natural salty soil (5000 ppm) and irrigated by naturally saline water at 9000 ppm across 3 seasons (2016)(2017)(2018)(2019). For all traits, genetic parameters; correlations and path coefficient analysis have been assessed. Variance analysis indicated presence of significant differences among all genotypes for all traits in all generations (F5-7) with highness of both phenotypic and genotypic variation coefficients for both yields (grain and biological/fad.) and these support sufficient variation to genetic improvement via selection. Breeding genotypes, their parents and three adopted check cultivars were classified depending on salt-tolerability using hierarchical clustering into three groups; highly, intermediate and tolerant. Furthermore, broad sense heritability (h 2 ) for all tested traits ranged from 71.1 to 89.47 in all generations. However phenotypic and genotypic correlation coefficients displayed strong and significant positive associations between grain and biological yields with number of each of: tillers/plant, spikelets/spike and grains/spike and grain weight/spike over the three generations. Moreover, number of each of tillers/plant, spikelets/spike, grains/spike beside biological yield exhibited maximum positive direct effect on grain yield; while the highest indirect effect assigned for biological yield through grain weight/spike and number of each of: tillers/plant, grains/spike and spikelets/spike reflecting importance of them to improve yield.