Evaluation of drought tolerance and yield potential in winter barley (Hordeum vulgare) genotypes

In order to evaluate quantitative drought resistance criteria in twenty genotypes of winter barley, two experiments were conducted during 2008-2009 at the Saatloo Research Farm, West Azerbaijan, Iran. The experiments were laid out as randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Ten selection indices including stress susceptibility index (SSI), stress tolerance index (STI), tolerance (TOL), yield index (YI), yield stability index (YSI), mean productivity (MP), geometric mean productivity (GMP), superiority measure (Pi), yield reduction (Yr) and relative drought index (RDI) were calculated based on grain yield under stress and non stress conditions. The Pamir-065 and Pamir-146 genotypes were identified as the superior winter barley lines with the highest drought stress resistance and considerable yield potential under both well and limited irrigation conditions. The significant and positive correlations of YP with MP, STI, and GMP and YS with MP, STI, GMP, YSI, YI and RDI indicated that STI, MP and GMP are the best criteria for selection of high yielding barley genotypes under stress and non-stress conditions.