Genetic variation for quantitative and morphological traits related to grain yield in pure lines of barley (Hordeum Vulgare) using multivariate analysis

In order to determine، genetic variation for quantitative and morphological traits related to grain yield in ninety nine pure lines of barley derived from barley breeding programs in different field stations and one commercial cultivar (Nosrat) as check. This study was conducted using an alpha-lattice design with two replications at the Seed and Plant Improvement Institute (SPII)، Karaj in 2007 - 2008 cropping season. The number of days to physiological maturity showed the highest (h2=100) and the grain yield (h2=60. 5) medium heritability، respectively. Genetic correlations between the traits were similar to phenotypic correlations and were commonly greater. Factor analysis for studied traits revealed three factors which justified 100 percent of the total variation. The first factor which was named yield factor was included number of grain per square meter، grain yield and grain filling rate. The second factor consisted number of spike per square meter، number of grain per spike and grain weight per spike. The third factor included grain filling rate، thousand grain weight، and spike length. Path analysis also detected the same results as the other analyses and indicated the importance of number of grain per square meter in increasing grain yield. Cluster analysis based on all traits، detected three groups and identified the lines that derived from a specific breeding program/location were not very different and distributed in all three groups.