The experimental material comprised of 50 diverse genotypes were sown in randomized block design with three replications in both timely and late sown condition to study correlation and path coefficient for ten quantitative field traits like days to heading, days to maturity, plant height (cm), spike length (cm), number of tillers per meter row, number of grains per spike,1000 grain weight (g), harvest index (%), biological yield (kg/plot), grain yield (kg/plot) and eight seed parameters viz; seedling length (cm), seed density (g/cc), standard germination (%), seedling dry weight (mg), vigour index I, vigour index II, electrical conductivity (µS/cm/seed) and accelerated ageing at 48 and 72 hours. The grain yield was found to be positively and significantly associated with harvest index, 1000 grain weight and biological yield per plot in both the environments. Characters such as germination per cent, accelerated ageing (48 h, 72 h) and days to maturity were significantly and positively correlated with grain yield under timely sown condition likewise vigour index-I, seedling dry weight and number of tillers per meter were some other traits which had significant positive association with grain yield under late sown condition. Path coefficient analysis indicated that biological yield per plot, harvest index, vigour index-II and seedling length had high positive and significant direct effect in both the environments. Accordingly, emphasis could be given on these traits during selection for varietal improvement programme.
Estimation of genetic diversity in a crop species provides a basis for devising future strategies for their conservation and sustainable use in crop improvement. Genotypic variation in 72 barley genotypes was studied for ten morphological traits during two consecutive cropping years (2015-16 and 2016-17) at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. Coefficient of variation attributed to genotypic diversity was recorded highest for grain yield (26.16 %) followed by inclination angle (20.0 %), internode length (13.11 %) and tillers per meter (13.07 %). However, days to maturity (2.69 %) contributed less to diversity with lower coefficient of variation. The principal component analysis revealed that first four most informative components could explain about 71.0 % of total variation present in the studied genotypes. Hierarchical cluster analysis clubbed all the barley genotypes into eight clusters. Clusters III and V being the largest one with 14 genotypes each and with one genotype. Cluster I was the smallest. Among all, maximum distance was displayed by clusters I and VI, however, highest diversity was exhibited by cluster V. The genotypes namely MGL 21 (early heading), MGL 38 (early maturing), MGL 47 (short plant height with high tillering), MGL 12 (high culm thickness), MGL 117 (long internodes), MGL 15 (long spikes) and MBGSN 145 (high grain weight, high yield, lodging resistant) were identified as most diverse genotypes. Cluster I, IV and VII portrayed better performance for most of the traits studied. Genotypes from these groups could be utilized as donors in breeding programs for different agro-ecologies.
The multivariate technique of hierarchical cluster analysis in 87 barley genotypes indicated substantial genetic diversity in the experimental material. The experiment was conducted at
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