Identification of Genetically Diverse Lines for Yield, Yield Components and Quality Characters in Promising Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Genotypes

Barley germplasm comprising of 170 accessions (101 two rowed and 69 six rowed) along with 3 standard check varieties (1 two rowed and 2 six rowed) were evaluated to determine genetic diverse lines for grain yield and yield components in an augmented block design consisting of 10 complete blocks during rabi season of 2014-15 at CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana. The Non-hierarchical Euclidean cluster analysis grouped the genotypes including checks into eleven and nine distinct clusters for two and six rowed barley genotypes respectively, indicating existence of high degree of genetic diversity in the genotypes evaluated. Representative genotypes from a cluster could be chosen for hybridization program. The clusters formed in divergence analysis have genotypes of heterogeneous origin thereby indicating no parallelism between genetic and geographic diversity. The highest intra-cluster distances were recorded for cluster XI (14.37) and cluster I (12.06) in two and six rowed barley respectively, which indicates the existence of maximum variability within the clusters. The crossing between superior genotypes of above diverse cluster pairs can provide desirable transgressive segregates for developing high yielding varieties of barley.