Comparative Phenology of Wild Barely in Wheat Field from Germination until End of Dormancy Stage

An experiment to investigate wheat and wild barely phenology was conducted during 2008-2009 in the field of Plant Protection Research Institute in Varamin. Wild barely and wheat (Variety Kavier) were planted in the vicinity of each other in a randomized complete blocks design with four replications. Phenological stages based on international Zadoks scale and GDD based on growing degree days were calculated for each stage of growth. Results showed that wild barely finished its phenological stages faster than wheat. Thus, complete life cycle of wild barely required 1839/1 growing degree days and 204 days, while wheat needed 2143/1 growing degree days and 219 days. At wheat maturity seeds stage, wild barely seeds had completely fallen except for the final seed clusters. Wild barely seed dormancy period was about 45 days. Comparative study of phonological stages of wild barely and wheat showed that the plants grew together of early stages, of growth up to early tillering, from then to the end of tillering, wild barely surpassed wheat. However, in the stem elongation stage wheat surpassed wild barely. However wild barely started inflorescenc emergence sooner than wheat. Our results suppots the idea that success of wild barely to infest wheat fields is due to rapidly reaching full maturity and short seed dormancy period.