Evaluation of yield and morphological traits in some Iranian Annual Wild Barley (Hordeum spp.)

The Barley genus (Hordeum spp.) has low water requirements and resistance to both cold and salinity. Due to climatic limitations such as drought stress in Iran, the evaluation and identification of high-yielding genotypes used in breeding programs seem necessary. In this study, 27 annual wild barley genotypes belonging to H. distichon L., H. geniculatum All., H. glaucum Steud., H. Leporinum Link, H. marinum Hudson, H. spontaneum C. Koch and H. vulgare L. species were collected from seven localities in Iran. Genotypes were cultivated on the farm of the Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Karaj, Iran in 2018. The experimental layout was a randomized complete block design with three replications. The cultivation of genotypes was repeated for two consecutive years. The data were collected and analyzed for yield and morphological traits. There were significant variations for all traits between species and between genotypes within species (p < 0.01). The genotypes 40293 (H. glaucum), 38480 (H. spontaneum), and 27939 (H. leporinum) with average values of 67.67, 61.67 and 56.33 cm had the highest plant height, respectively. Also, genotypes 27939 (H. leporinum) and 32849 (H. spontaneum) with values of 1.17 and 1.15 g/plant had higher production than the other genotypes. Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), the first three independent components with Eigenvalues higher than 1.0 were accounted for 0.76% of the total variation. For PC1; plant height, leaf width, fresh weight, and dry weight, for PC2, tiller number, and spike length, and for PC3, leaf length, leaf number and internode length were the most important traits. Using a cluster analysis (Ward method), the genotypes were classified within the relevant species and there was a good agreement between cluster analysis and PCA. The presence of high genetic diversity for morphology, phenology, and agronomy traits in Iranian wild barley genetic resources indicates a good potential for breeding the improved varieties for cultivating in the degraded rangelands of Iran.