Goharan, A New Terminal Drought Tolerant Barley Cultivar with High Water use Productivity for Cultivation in the Moderate Agro-climate Zone of Iran

Barley cultivar Goharan with pedigree of "Rhn-03//L.527/NK1272", was selected among barley genotypes from ICARDA and was identified as is a suitable cultivar for temperate regions under both terminal drought stress and non-stress conditions with different irrigation water management. Preliminary, advanced and elite yield trialsof this cultivar under two conditions (terminal droughtstress and non-stress) were carried out at Karaj, Birjand, Isfahan and Varamin stations. The results of the experiments showed that under non stress conditions, Goharan cultivar had a mean grain yield of 6269 kgha-1 versus 5244 kgha-1 of Rihane ( 20% increase), and under terminal drought stress had mean yield of 4720 kgha-1 versus 4035 kgha-1 of Rihane ( 17% increase). This cultivar, had a mean protein content of 12 percent which indicates its good quality. Study on status of irrigation water use productivity in some drought tolerance barley genotypes showed that cultivar Goharan had the highest amount of water use productivity among genotypes. Results of on-farm trials showed that in average Goharan had 1196 and 623 kgha-1 higher grain yield than Nosrat and Yousef cultivars, respectively under both drought stress and non-stress conditions.Based on importance of water in recent years, drought and lowering of groundwater resources, especially in arid and semi-arid regions of the country,where, there is a competition for irrigation water to cultivate spring products,cultivar Goharan was released for cultivation in non- stress areas and under drought stress in the temperate zone of the country for the sustainability of the barley production.