GrainGenes

II. 47. Differences between erect and prostrate genotypes of spring barley.

E. Simpson and J.W. Snape, Plant Breeding Institute, Trumpington, Cambridge CB2 2LQ, England. "R"

The two spring barley varieties Georgie and HB855 differ from each other for several characters of which growth habit is one. HB855 is a selection from a (Weibulls 1001 x Maris Mink) x Weibulls 1001 cross and is prostrate in growth habit whereas Georgie is an erect type. Plants from the Fl of these two varieties were crossed with H. bulbosum and the resulting double haploid lines were grown in a field trial in 1978. The di-haploid lines segregated for the erect and prostrate growth habit. This is determined by a single gene (Whitehouse, Jenkins and Johnson, 1972) and the two groups segregated in the expected 1:1 ratio. Disease and various yield characters were scored on these lines and the means of the two groups are presented in Table 1. Comparisons of these means allow the pleiotropic effect of the gene on other characters to be investigated.

Table 1. Character means for the erect and prostrate groups.

The data indicated that four characters differed significantly between the two groups, these being ear emergence, height, plant yield and grain size. The erect group had the higher plant yield and this appeared to be attributable mainly to the significantly larger grain size of this group. The erect group was also significantly earlier and taller than the prostrate group.

These results suggest that the prostrate habit gene, originally introduced into the PBI breeding programme as a source of semi-dwarfism has undesirable pleiotropic effects on yield and ear-emergence time.

Reference:
Whitehouse, R.N.H., G. Jenkins, and J.D. Johnson. 1972. Annual Report, Plant Breeding Institute, 80-82.

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