Study of Heritability and Genetic Advance of Agronomic Traits in Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and Graphic Analysis of Trait Relations by Biplot

Crop yield is a complex trait determined by several components that may positively or negatively affect this trait and its improvement is a major goal of breeding programs. In this study, a population of 148 barley doubledhaploid lines derived from a cross between Clipper and an Sahara3771 were grown in the experimental field of University of Tabriz, in the 2011 and 2012 barley growing seasons to assess the presence of variability for desired traits and amount of variation for different parameters. Variance components, phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation, heritability and genetic advance were estimated for all the traits. The lowest differences between genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation observed for awn length, stem diameter and hundred grain weight. Highest value of narrow sense heritability was recorded for hundred grain weight (93.52). High genetic gain were observed in number of grain per plant, grain yield and hundred grain weight, suggesting that selection based on phenotypic performance of this trait would be effective to improvement value of these traits. In this study, the interrelationships among yield and other agronomic traits were also investigated using genotype by trait biplot technique. Positive relations were found between grain yield, number of grain per plant and stem diameter. The results showed that line L75 produced maximum grain yield, number of grain per plant, biomass, plant height and peduncle length. The study revealed that genotype by trait (GT) biplot can graphically display the interrelationships among traits and facilitate visual comparison of lines.