INHERITANCE OF WINTERHARDINESS IN AN EIGHTEEN-PARENT DIALLEL CROSS OF BARLEY

Abstract
F2 and F3 data on Rohde and Pulham, involving 153 crosses, were re-analyzed by applying advanced diallele techniques. The varieties Kido, Kentucky 1, Randolph, Suchow, Khayyam and Hokudo were found to exhibit high degrees of dominance, while varieties, Kura, Apsheron, Derbent, Black Russian, Caucasus and Marm show low degrees of dominance. The varieties Meimi, Reno, Shonan, Peking, Dicktoo and Sabbaton expressed intermediate to moderately high degrees of dominance. Winterhardiness was found to be controlled by both dominant and recessive genes, with the contribution of the former being the greater. There was highly significant positive correlation between mean winter survival and degree of dominance, taken over all parental varieties. Results indicate that crosses between existing winterhardy varieties are less likely to give rise to strains of higher winterhardiness than would crosses between suitable winter tender and winterhardy varieties, or between moderately winterhardy varieties.