Analysis of agronomic traits and crude protein content of 164 barley germplasms

To select forage barley (Hordeum vulgare) germplasms with high quality, we comprehensively evaluated the primary agronomic traits and crude protein content of the main stems of 164 barley germplasms. Significant differences were found between two- and six- rowed barley in all traits scored by one way ANOVA analysis (P < 0.05). Among the traits, the thousand grain weight, spike length and tiller number of two-rowed barley were significantly higher than those of six-rowed barley. However, the plant height, leaf length and width, peduncle length, seed number per spike, fresh/dry weight and crude protein of the main stem were significantly higher in six-rowed barley. Further correlation analyses on the traits of both two- and six-rowed barley showed that the main stem crude protein content was positively correlated with seed number per spike. In addition, in the two-rowed barley, the crude protein content of the main stem was positively correlated with the leaf width, spike length and fresh weight of the main stem. In the six-rowed barley, the crude protein content of the main stem was negatively correlated with the lengths of the peduncle and the second internode below the spike, the dry weight of the main stem and the thousand grain weight. Finally, eight two-rowed and eight six-rowed barley germplasms with potentially high quality were selected according to gray relation analysis on the 164 barley germplasms. Our study can provide germplasm resources and a theoretical basis for breeding high-quality forage barley.