Evaluation of grain yield and diastatic power in barley for north western plains of India

Abstract

Information on mega environments and test sites for grain yield is scanty and even not studied for diastatic power in barley and confounding G x E invariably misleads further in yield maximization and quality improvement. Average grain yield and diastatic power over the locations were exhibited as 42.3 q/ha and 101.5oL and ranged from 32.1 to 64.4 q/ha and 97.3 to 109.6oL, respectively. Initial two principal components showed reasonably good amount of the interaction component and explained nearly 60% and 57 % of the variation for grain yield for diastatic power. GGE biplots revealed that no single cultivar was winning at all the locations and indicated possibilities of crossover type genotype by environment interaction. Based on AEC abscissa and ordinate scores the genotype DWRB150 and check BH902 were observed high yielding and stable, whereas the check DWRB92 showed wider adaptability for diastatic power. For grain yield the location Hisar was classified as Type 2 ideal environment with long vector and acute angle, whereas for diastatic power the environments Ludhiana and Mathura were discriminating and representative. The study initiated possibilities to review non-informative and correlated test sites based on soil, rainfall, biotic factors and previous data to eliminate in future evaluation.