Study on expectant planting possibility s of irrigated barley in cold regions of Isfahan province

In order to evaluate possibility of expectant planting of irrigated barley for cold regions of Esfahan province, 18 barley genotypes cultivated in Rozveh Agriculture Research Station and in a CRB design with four replications for two successive years (2005-2007).Inboth years, sowing carried out onNov 23th without irrigation and the first irrigation was done on late March. All other farm practices were done as usual. Results showed that grain yield and yield components significantly affected by year and genotype (P<0.01). And the interaction of year and genotype affected biomass and thousand kernel weight (P<0.01), and grain yield and other yield components (P<0.05), significantly. CB-79-13 barley line produced the highest grain yield in both years, 3635 and 1584 kg/ha, respectively. And Dasht variety produced the lowest the grain yield in both first and second year, 1272 and 520 kg/ha, respectively. Two years average grain yields of CB-79-13, MB-80-16, D5, IFN-1, Nosrat and Makooii barley genotypes were the higher than other genotypes, significantly. According to significant and strong positive correlation (R2=0.99) between biomass and grain yield, the genotypes which produced the highest grain yield, also had the highest biomass. Spikes /m2 had the highest positive significant correlation with grain yield (R2=0.78), compared with other yield components. In accordance to results of this study, to avoid of chilling and freezing damages for barley cultivation in cold regions, expectant planting is recommendable. However, various barley genotypes react differently to this method. Although, this reaction was not related to growth habit of genotypes.