Scientific Reports of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine

Correlation between spring barley performance constituents under arid conditions

Nataliia Vasko, Yevhenii Mykhailenko
Download article
Abstract

Barley possesses unique dietary properties and is among the richest sources of phenolic compounds among cereal crops, which explains the growing interest in barley grain as a raw material for functional food production. The purpose of the study was to identify valuable starting material for the breeding of naked spring barley with pigmented grains. To achieve this, the level of productivity and its relationship with structural elements (spike length, number of grains per spike) and plant height were determined. The study involved seven accessions of naked barley with pigmented grains and the standard, hulled barley cultivar ‘Avhur’. The naked barley accessions included yellow-grained cultivars ‘CDC(Crop Development Centre) Hilose’, ‘CDC Alamo’, and ‘Mebere’ (var. nudum); collection accession UA 0800645 (var. nudimelanocrithum, black grain), UA 0800663 (var. viride, green grain), and UA 0805462 (var. daghestanicum, gray-green grain); and the breeding line Violet 18-1207 (var. nudidubium, purple grain) developed at the Plant Breeding and Genetics Institute, NAAS. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA with post-hoc Fisher’s LSD test and correlation analysis. A wide variability of productivity was demonstrated (V = 26-47%), and a strong correlation was established between the productivity of the main spike and its structural elements (r = 0.65-0.96). As a result, a correlation cluster was identified: productivity → number of grains per spike → spike length. Considering the low variability of the trait “number of grains per spike” and its strong correlation with spike length, these traits were determined to be key indicators for selection aimed at high productivity. A source of long spikes was identified (‘CDC Alamo’, 10.6 cm), including sources of a large number of grains per spike (‘CDC Alamo’ and the breeding line Violet 18-1207, 26-28 grains). The identification of sources of valuable traits is essential for breeding aimed at increasing the yield of naked barley and ensuring food security, particularly under conditions of climate change

Keywords

naked barley, variability, primary spike, number of grains, plant height, weight of grains per spike, correlation cluster

Suggested citation
Vasko, N., & Mykhailenko, Ye. (2025). Correlation between spring barley performance constituents under arid conditions. Scientific Reports of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, 21(4),50-61. https://doi.org/10.31548/dopovidi/4.2025.50
References
  1. Aarushi, Kumari, N.K., Komal, & Ram, K.R. (2023). Physiological and yield characteristics of barley (Hordeum vulgare) genotypes subjected to drought stress. Annals of Biology, 39(2), 362-369.
  2. Akdogan, G., Benlioglu, B., Ahmed, H.A.A., Bilir, M., Ergun, N., Aydogan, S., Türkoğlu, A., Demirel, F., Nowosad, K., & Bocianowski, J. (2025). Agro-morphological characterization and machine learning-based prediction of genetic diversity in six-rowed barley genotypes from Türkiye. Euphytica, 221(1), article number 69. doi: 10.1007/s10681-025-03522-7.
  3. Attia, M.A.E.-H., AbouEl-Enin, M.M., Abou Tahoun, A.M., Abdelghany, F.I.M., & El-Serafy, R.S. (2022). Productivity of some barley cultivars as affected by supplemental irrigation under rainfed conditions. Australian Journal of Crop Science, 16(05), 665-675. doi: 10.21475/ajcs.22.16.05.p3647.
  4. Czembor, J.H. (2023). Barley genetic resources: Advancing conservation and applications for breeding. Agronomy, 13(12), article number 2901. doi: 10.3390/agronomy13122901.
  5. Czembor, J.H., & Czembor, E. (2022). Genome-wide association study of agronomic traits in European spring barley from Polish Gene Bank. Agronomy, 12(9), article number 2135. doi: 10.3390/agronomy12092135.
  6. Desta, K.T., Choi, Y.-M., Yoon, H., Lee, S., Yi, J., Jeon, Y.-a., Wang, X., Park, J.-C., Kim, K.-M., & Shin, M.-J. (2024). Comprehensive characterization of Global barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) collection using agronomic traits, β-glucan level, phenolic content, and antioxidant activities. Plants, 13(2), article number 169. doi: 10.3390plan ts13020169.
  7. Fan, C., Xu, D., Wang, C., Chen, Z., Dou, T., Qin, D., Guo, A., Zhao, M., Pei, H., Zhao, M., Zhang, R., Wang, Ke., Zhang, J., Ni, Z., & Guo, G. (2024). Natural variations of HvSRN1 modulate the spike rachis node number in barley. Plants Communications, 5(1), article number 100670. doi: 10.1016/j.xplc.2023.100670.
  8. He, T., Angessa, T.T., & Li, C. (2023). Pleiotropy structures plant height and seed weight scaling in barley despite long history of domestication and breeding selection. Plant Phenomics, 30(5), article number 0015. doi: 10.34133/plantphenomics.0015.
  9. International Plant Protection Convention. (2006, January). Retrieved from https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/995_805.
  10. Iwatani, S., & Yamamoto, N. (2019). Functional food products in Japan. Food Sciences and Human Wellness, 8(2), 96-101. doi: 10.1016/j.fshw.2019.03.011.
  11. Jayakodi, M., Schreiber, M., Stein, N., & Mascher, M. (2021). Building pan-genome infrastructures for crop plants and their use in association genetics. DNA Research, 28(1), article number dsaa030. doi: 10.1093/dnares/dsaa030.
  12. Karabach, K., & Bеrezhniak, E.M. (2021). Influence of fertiliser systems with elements of biologisation and cultivation on the yield, economic and energy efficiency of spring barley. Plant and Soil Science, 12(2), 60-68. doi: 10.31548/agr2021.02.0060.
  13. Kaur, V., Aravind, J., Manju, Jacob, S.R., Kumari, J., Panwar, B.S., Pal, N., Rana, J.C., Pandey, A., & Kumar, A. (2022). Phenotypic characterization, genetic diversity assessment in 6,778 accessions of barley (Hordeum vulgare L. ssp. vulgare) germplasm conserved in National Genebank of India and development of a core set. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13(1), article number 771920. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.771920.
  14. Law of Ukraine No. 4147-IX “On State Regulation of the Sphere of Plant Protection”. (2024, December). Retrieved from https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/4147-20#Text.
  15. Massman, C., Meints, B., Hernandez, J., Kunze, K., Hayes, P.M., Sorrelles, M.E., Smith, K.P., Dawson, J.C., & Guttierez, L. (2022). Genetic characterization of agronomic traits and gain threshability for organic naked barley in the northern United States. Crop Science, 62(2), 690-703. doi: 10.1002/csc2.20686.
  16. Sakuma, S., & Schnurbusch, T. (2020). Of floral fortune: Tinkering with the grain yield potential of cereal crops. New Phytologist, 225(5), 1873-1882. doi: 10.1111/nph.16189.
  17. Sato, K. (2025). Genetic resources and pangenome analysis of barley. Breeding Science, 75(1), 13-20. doi: 10.1270/jsbbs.24029.
  18. Serrago, R.A., García, G.A., Savin, R., Miralles, D.J., & Slafer, G.A. (2025). Relevance of grain number and grain weight on barley yield responses to environmental and genetic factor. Field Crops Research, 328(1), article number 109922. doi: 10.1016/j.fcr.2025.1099229.
  19. Thabet, S.G., Moursi, Y.S., Karam, M.A., Börner, A., & Alqudah, A.M. (2020). Natural variation uncovers candidate genes for barley spikelet number and grain yield under drought stress. Genes, 11(5), article number 533. doi: 10.3390/genes11050533.
  20. Thirulogachandar, V., & Schnurbusch, T. (2021). Spikelet stop’ determines the maximum yield potential stage in barley. Journal of Experimental Botany, 72(22), 7743-7753. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erab342.
  21. Vasko, N.I., Solonechnyi, P.M., Naumov, O.G., Kozachenko, M.R., Kobyzeva, LN., & Zymogliad, O.V. (2023). Correlation and path analyses of the performance elements in spring barley cultivars. Journal of Central European Agriculture, 24(2), 403-412. doi: 10.5513/JCEA01/24.2.3735 .
  22. Yirgu, M., Kebede, M., Feyissa, T., Lakew, B., & Woldeyohamnes, A.B. (2022). Morphological variations of qualitative traits of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) accessions in Ethiopia. Heliyon, 8(10), article number e10949. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10949.
  23. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 684-r “On approval of the Food Security Strategy of Ukraine for the period until 2027 and approval of the operational action plan for its implementation”. (2024, July). Retrieved from https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/684-2024-%D1%80#Text.