Variability and Character Association in Barley (Hordeum Vulgare L.)

Tigray region is characterized by an erratic rainfall where heavy rain swap with dry periods resulting in alternating floods and dry periods. Therefore, barley materials developed for arid and semi-arid areas were introduced from ICARDA. The over all objective of this study was to estimate the extent of genetic variability, association among characters and to estimate genetic divergence among the genotypes and to cluster them in divergent groups. Sixty four barley genotypes were tested in 8x8 simple lattice design at Atsbi, Ofla and Quiha environments in Tigray region, in 2009/10 cropping season. Analysis of variance revealed that there was a significant difference among the genotypes for the traits Days to heading, Days to maturity, Spike length, Number of Productive tillers /m2, Number of Kernels per spike, Biological yield, Grain yield, Harvest index, Germination Test and 1000-kernel weight in all locations except plant height was non-significant at Atsbi and Ofla.