Abstract
In order to investigate the effects of water deficit stress on some agro-morphological and physiological traits of seven genotypes and five landraces of barley, a split plot experiment was conducted a completely randomized block design with four replications in 2011-2012 cropping season at experimental field of College of Agriculture, Payame Noor University of Center, West Azerbaijan, Iran. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among genotypes and landraces for all of the studied traits, and showed highly significant effects of water deficit stress on all the studied traits. Based on correlation analysis, all the characters included in the study except leaf temperature and number of grain per spike showed significant positive correlation with grain yield under both conditions. In terms of physiological characters high significant correlation coefficient was found between relative water content and grain yield under stress condition; however, high significant correlation coefficient observed between fluorescence chlorophyll and grain yield under non-stress condition. 1000-grain weight had negative correlation with all characters except leaf temperature under non-stress condition. However, this character had significant and positive correlation with fluorescence chlorophyll, relative water content, SPAD value, spike length, number of spike per plant under stress condition. Considering the grain yield potential ‘Naghadeh’, ‘Piranshahr’ and ‘Mahabad’ landraces together with ‘CW3117-77’ genotype were ranked as the superior group of drought tolerant barley. On the other hand, ‘Naghadeh’ landrace was identified as a barley landrace that could be grown under both normal and water deficit stress conditions with high grain yield.
Highlights
Barley (Hordeum vulgar L.) is a major crop ranked fourth in the world-wide production of cereals
Means of agro-morphological and physiological characteristics under stress and non-stress conditions as well as reduction percent of reduction in the concerned characteristics due to water deficit stress are shown in Tab. 3
Leaf temperature ranged from 22.70 for ‘Atlas46/Kavir’ genotype and ‘Sahand’ landrace to 25.62 for ‘CB’ genotype under non stress condition; leaf temperature were highest under stress condition and ranged from 27.50 for ‘Naghadeh’ to 30.50 for ‘Rihane-05’
Summary
Barley (Hordeum vulgar L.) is a major crop ranked fourth in the world-wide production of cereals. It is considered a primary staple food or feed crop in the semi-arid tropics of Asia, Africa, and South America. Barley is typically cultivated in the arid and semi-arid regions of Iran generally in areas with low precipitation that are not suitable for wheat (Baik and Ullrich, 2008). Drought is a significant limiting factor for agricultural productivity and generally inhibits plant growth through reduced water absorption and nutrient uptake. For improving the drought tolerance of crop varieties by plant breeding, it is necessary to identify genotypes with tolerance to drought stress during all growth stages. Landraces are still cultivated in traditional crop-growing areas. There is renewed interest in landraces and primitive cultivars as important sources of genetic variation (Brush, 1995) mainly because of the trend toward greater uniformity that has narrowed the genetic base of modern cultivars, increasing their vulnerability to biotic and abiotic stress (Moghaddam et al, 1997)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
