Stability analyses and heritability of a doubled haploid population of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

Abstract

Assessment of genotype-by-environment interaction (G×E) is a curial step in any breeding program through multi-environmental trials (MET). In the current study, we grow a bi-parental population consists of 297 BC2DH lines along with their parents and a local check cultivar in four locations for two years (2016/2017 and 2017/2018) across Egypt. We employed different statistical analyses including AMMI, Eberhart and Russell and Tai’s analyses to assess the G×E. In addition, we estimated broad-sense heritability for grain yield per plant as well as phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation. We found that environment (E), genotype (G) and G×E accounted for 52.52, 10.61 and 36.87% of sums of squares of treatment, respectively. Some DHs, e.g. 19, 65 and 4 were stable and adapted across environments unlike 73, 9 and 95, which were not stable across all environments but specifically adapted to Nubaria location during the two growing seasons. Both similar and dissimilar results found using Eberhart and Russel and Tai’s analyses. However, the AMMI biplot analysis successfully elucidate the which-won-where pattern. For the heritability estimates, we found that grain yield per plant showed moderate heritability estimate (0.50). This indicated that this trait can be improvedunder investigated environments. We identified some promising stable DHs lines that might be used in barley breeding programs in Egypt. Some of these DHs performed better than both parents and the local check cultivar.