Assessment of Genetic Variability and Acid Soil Tolerance in Ethiopian Barley Landraces

Abstract

Barley is an important food security and industrial crop in Ethiopia and its production is constrained by several factors including soil acidity stress. Thus, an experiment was conducted using  320 barley genotypes in alpha lattice design with two replications at Holeta, Jeldu and Midakegn testing sites during 2017 and 2018 to assess genetic variability among barley genotypes, to identify barley genotypes tolerant to acid soils using stress indices  and to assess the association among stress indices as well as grain yield. Data analysis showed significant (P≤ 0.01) differences between the genotypes and the interactions. Estimates of heritability and genetic advance of the studied traits also revealed potential prospects for genetic improvement of traits of interest. Moreover, the overall mean grain yield under non-stress was 3212.42 kg ha^-1 (1797 to 5936 kg ha^-1) compared to 2347.83 kg ha^-1 (1797 to 5936 kg ha^-1) under acid soil stress indicating a yield reduction of 26.92%. Assessment of acid soil stress indices was also found to be promising in identifying tolerant genotypes with good yield potential. Yield under stress showed a strong positive correlation (r = 0.89^**) with yield under non-stress indicating that some genotypes which performed well under non-stress also showed good performance under acid soil stress. Moreover, STI, GMP, MP, AAI and ATA revealed the existence of a strong positive correlation between themselves and yield performance under both sets. Therefore, high yielding and tolerant barley genotypes were identified for further adaptation studies and simultaneous breeding line identification for subsequent crossing and variety development.