GENETIC-VARIATION AND ADAPTATION OF 76 CANADIAN BARLEY CULTIVARS

A study was initiated in 1990 to determine the genetic variation and adaptation of all registered Canadian barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivars. Seventy-six cultivars were tested at four locations across Canada (Charlottetown, Ottawa, Brandon, and Bentley) in 1991 and 1992. These cultivars were grouped into 10 classes and classes were compared in five categories: eastern vs. western, doubled-haploid (DH) vs. conventional, feed vs, malting, two-row vs. six-row, and hulless vs. covered. These 76 cultivars showed remarkable variation in yield, test weight, kernel weight, plant height, and maturity and responded differently to the environments. Among them, Albany and Chapais had the highest yield and they also yielded well in both Eastern and Western Canada. Thus, some barley cultivars were widely adapted across the whole country. Two-row cultivars had higher test weight and higher kernel weight than six-row and appeared to be more stable in yield over the environments. Eastern two-row cultivars were superior in yield, test weight, and kernel weight than western two-row. Eastern two-row, in general, performed well across Canada. Several western six-row cultivars performed well in both Western and Eastern Canada. Therefore, greater exchanges of breeding materials between the two regions are recommended in order to fully exploit the genetic potentials of new cultivars. DH cultivars yielded as well as conventional cultivars and responded similarly to the environments. This substantiates that complete homozygosity and homogeneity have very little effect on the performance of DH cultivars. Among the western two-row, feed cultivars yielded either higher than or the same as malting cultivars in the eight environments. Hulless cultivars had lower yield, higher test weight and lower kernel weight than covered cultivars.