Diallel analysis of high lysine barley, Hordeum vulgare L.

Abstract

The cytology of the parental lines and F1-hybrids in a diallel cross between 5 high lysine lines (1 spontaneous and 4 induced) and 4 normal lysine lines were studied. The following characters were registered: number of chiasmata, variance of number of chiasmata, segregation of chromosomes in anaphase I, pollen stainability and seed set. In one of the induced lines, Notch II, the mean and variance of number of chiasmata in metaphase I were 1.74 and 0.0338, respectively, as compared to 1.97 and 0.0035 in the remaining lines. These differences, ascribable to precocious separation of the chromosomes in metaphase I, appear to be under genetic control with incomplete dominance in favour of the normal state. The results indicate that the two characters are controlled by the sane gene. Notch II differs from the other lines also by reduced pollen quality and seed set. In the Carlsberg II mutant number 56 a reciprocal translocation between chromosome 2 and 5 was confirmed. In one of the low lysine lines 5% of the plants were nearly sterile. In F1 no such plants were observed, but they reappeared in F2, indicating genetically determined sterility. In the remaining lines, no abnormalities were detected for any of the characters investigated.