Analysis of gene effects for grains traits in winter barley.

The study of gene effects involved in the inheritance of different yield traits is one of the essential factors for the success of breeding programs. As the most important traits are inherited in a quantitative manner, therefore the results of different crosses are valuable for the improvement of the traits inside and among populations, as well as the production of cultivars. The number of grains per spike is referred to as the direct component of yield dependent on the spike density and length as well as on the number of grains rows per spike. Barley can be selected more strictly in the earlier generations on a higher number of grains per spike and a longer spike for ensuring a higher mass of 1000 grains as well as the mass of grains per spike in the next level of selection. The present work has been carried out to study the genetic control manner of grains number/spike and 1000 grains weight among 15 F1 hybrids of six winter barley varieties, with different genetic and ecological origin. Generally the overdominance effects have been found for the combinations where the parental forms do not differ in terms of the grains number/spike, while at the combinations where there are larger differences between parental forms, the inheritance of this trait is controlled by partial dominance effects. The inheritance of TGW for most combinations (87 %) is controlled by overdominance effects, associated with an increase in this trait. In case of GK Judy x Andra the inheritance of this trait is controlled by partial dominance effects. At Andra x Gunda combination the dominance effects have a very weak influence in the inheritance of this trait.