Distinctive morphological characters for varieties of barley (Hordeurn vulgare) in India

Abstract

Sixty varieties of barley (Hordeuln vulgare L., s.1.), released in India over different period oftime, were observed for 70 characters during the years 1996-99. The characters and their classes were chosen from the lists of descriptions of barley by International Union for the Protection of New Varieties ofPlants and International Plant Genetic Resources Institute. The distinctive characters were short-listed manually for each variety on the basis of 2 years data (1996-98) and were used in the next cropping season for their discriminating ability. The paper was formulated keeping in view the varieties prevalent in the most important and productive zone, i e north western plain zone of India and included both malt, feed and food characters. As this study was designed for a specific zone and only 10 varieties, viz RD 2052, Alfa 93, HBL 113, BCD 73, Karan 16,PL 56, C 164,BH 75, BH 87 and GeetanjIi showing clear-cut distinctness in certain characters and found nlorphologically distinct from each other are presented in this paper.