Selection of High-Yielding and Stable Genotypes of Barley for the Cold Climate in Iran

Alireza Pour-Aboughadareh; Habibollah Ghazvini; Seyed Shahriyar Jasemi; Solaiman Mohammadi; Sayed Alireza Razavi; Mehrdad Chaichi; Marefat Ghasemi Kalkhoran; Hassan Monirifar; Hamid Tajali; Asadollah Fathihafshjani; Jan Bocianowski

doi:10.3390/plants12132410

Selection of High-Yielding and Stable Genotypes of Barley for the Cold Climate in Iran

Plants (Basel). 2023 Jun 22;12(13):2410. doi: 10.3390/plants12132410.

Affiliations

¹ Seed and Plant Improvement Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Karaj P.O. Box 31587-77871, Iran.
² Field and Horticultural Crops Research Department, Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center of West-Azarbayjan Province, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Urmia P.O. Box 57169-63963, Iran.
³ Field and Horticultural Crops Research Department, Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center of Khorasan Razavi Province, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Mashhad P.O. Box 91769-83641, Iran.
⁴ Field and Horticultural Crops Research Department, Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center of Hamedan Province, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Hamedan P.O. Box 65199-91169, Iran.
⁵ Field and Horticultural Crops Research Department, Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center of Ardabil (Moghan) Province, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Ardabil P.O. Box 56951-57451, Iran.
⁶ Crop and Horticultural Science Research Department, East Azarbaijan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tabriz P.O. Box 51537-15898, Iran.
⁷ Field and Horticultural Crops Research Department, Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center of Markazi Province, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Arak P.O. Box 38135-889, Iran.
⁸ Department of Mathematical and Statistical Methods, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 28, 60-637 Poznań, Poland.

Abstract

The interaction between genotypes and environments plays an important role in selecting superior genotypes for target locations. The main objectives of the present study were to analyze the effect of the genotype-by-environment interaction (GEI) and identify superior, newly developed, and promising barley genotypes for cold regions in Iran. For these purposes, a set of genotypes obtained from breeding programs for cold climates in Iran, along with two reference genotypes, were investigated at eight research stations (Tabriz, Ardabil, Arak, Miandoab, Mashhad, Jolge Rokh, Karaj, and Hamadan) during two consecutive growing seasons (2019-2020 and 2020-2021). The results of the freezing test (LT₅₀) showed that most of the tested genotypes had significant cold tolerance at the seedling stage. Based on the additive main effect and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) analysis, environment (E) and GEI effects explained 49.44% and 16.55% of the total variation in grain yield, respectively. Using AMMI1 and AMMI2 models, G2 and G20 were found to be superior genotypes in terms of grain yield and stability. Moreover, AMMI-based stability parameters considered the G20 genotype to be the ideal genotype. A two-plot analysis of the genotype-by-environment interaction (GGE) biplot showed that the 16 experimental environments were grouped into 2 mega-environments. Of the test environments, ARK1 and KAJ2 had the highest discriminating power and representativeness ability, and these were identified as ideal environments for testing advanced genotypes for yield and stability performance during early barley breeding practices in cold areas in Iran. In conclusion, both AMMI and GGE biplot models identified several superior genotypes, among which G20, with a high average yield relative to the overall average yield and the lowest IPC1 score, was found to have high yield stability and is recommended for inclusion in breeding programs for cold climates in Iran.

Keywords: barley; cold area; mega-environments; multi-environment trials; stability analysis.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.