The Diversity And Genetic Basis Of Awn And Its Relationship With Yield Traits In Barley

Barley is an important food crop.Barley awns function as photosynthesis,which directly connect to yield.In order to study the diversity and genetic basis of awn and its relationship with yield traits294 barley germplasm resources from different regions of China were collected and sown in Fuzhou breeding base of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University and Qingkou field base in Fuzhou City,Fujian Province,and the genetic diversity of six agronomic characters such as awn length,ear length 1000-grain weight and 3-D seed size were comprehensively evaluated by analysis of frequency distribution,one-way analysis of variance（ANOVA）and correlation analysis.At the same time,F₁,F₂ and F₃ generations of barley cross E21?E58 were investigated to study the inheritance of awn on central rows and lateral rows on barley spike.The main results were as follows.1.The cross experiment showed that hooded awn was dominant to straight awn,awnlessness was dominant to awned on lateral rows,and awnlessness showed dominant epistatic effect on hooded awn and straight awn on lateral rows.2.The awn distribution showed that the longest awn appeared in the third or fourth floret then awns shortened gradually floret by floret up along the spike,and awn on the top was the shortest;for six-rowed barley,awns on central rows were often longer than those on lateral rows.3.The awn length frequency distribution showed a tendence of normal distribution,and the heritability was 70.69%,showing that awn length was controlled mainly by genotype,but affected by the environment to some extent.4.There were significant differences among varieties for 6agronomic characters,whose heritability was more than 70%.Relatively high heritability meant high genetic differences among the diverse barley germplasms.The diversity of agronomic characters of barley was mostly due to internal genotypes,other than environmental factors.5.Awn length showed very significant correlations with 1000-grain weight and spike length,significant correlations with awn length and grain width,and no significant correlations with grain length and grain thickness,which further indicated that awn length affected yield in barley.These results provided some theoretical support and resources guarantee for breeding in barley,and the interaction of different awn genes in barley layed a good foundation for further studying the genetic mechanism of awn development.