Response of Hulless Barley Promising Lines to Water Deficiency Stress at Booting and Grain Filling Stages

To evaluate the response of hulless barley promising lines to water deficiency stress, 15 genotypes were assessed under three irrigation regimes (complete irrigation and water stress at booting and grain filling stages) at field and greenhouse conditions using split-plot design arranged in randomized complete blocks with three replications. The result of analyses revealed significant differences among the genotypes for all of the studied characters. Based on the combined data mean comparison, genotypes 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 11 and 12 showed the highest yield. However, among these genotypes, the minimum yield reduction under the stress conditions compared with the normal irrigation was observed in lines 3 and 10. Therefore, these lines can be used as promising genotypes in breeding program for improvement of drought tolerance and as parental lines for mapping of genes involved in drought tolerance. Genotype ranking based on the characters evaluated at the field and greenhouse revealed the highest ranks for genotypes 1, 3 and 5. The result indicated that these lines have other desirable characters such as harvest index, biomass and tiller beside high yield.