Inheritance of stem height and second-internode length in barley hybrids

Stem height and second (basal) internode are highly important components of lodging resistance in barley. A diallel crossing of five divergent barley genotypes (KG-1/90, NS-293, Jagodinac, KG-15 and KG-10/90) was carried out in order to examine the modes of inheritance of stem height and second-internode length. The dominance of a parent with a higher stem was the prevailing mode of stem height inheritance in most of the combinations in F1 and F2 generations, the degree of dominance ranging from partial to superdominance. Partial dominance mostly occurred in the inheritance of second-internode length in most crossing combinations. An analysis of genetic variance components showed that the dominant gene effect was the most contributing factor to the inheritance of stem height. Additive effect genes prevailed in the inheritance of second-internode length in the F1 generation. Both additive and dominant gene effects played an important role in the F2 generation.