Phenological and Phenotypic Differences and Correlations among Ecotypes of Hordeum spontaneum Originating from Different Locations in Israel

The phenological and phenotypic differences and correlations of wild barley,Hordeum spontaneum originating from six populations and 16 microhabitats in Israel were investigated in the present study.The obtained results showed that there were large differences in the phenological stages of plant development among these ecotypes.These included the stages of plant growth(three leaves,tillering,heading,maturity),plant height,flag leaf area,spike length,awn length,grains per spike,kernel weight and grain weight per spike,etc.The values of these characteristics were the highest in the mesic ecotypes,whereas the lowest values were in the xeric ecotypes excluding the flag leaf area,which was opposite to all items above.At the population level,the values of the mesic ecogotyes were higher than that of xeric ones excluding grain per spike.Furthermore,there were significant differences between mesic and xeric populations by Mann-Whltney test.Spearman's Rho correlation test for phenological and phenotypic differences of the wild barley of these ecotypes indicated that there were very good correlations among these items.The results demonstrated that wild barley can grow in natural conditions in Israel.Natural selection has established different ecotypes,which allow these ecotypes of barley to adapt to mesic or xeric environment,and abundant phenotypes harbored in this wild species.Therefore,wild barley can be used for identification of novel genes and utilization for barley breeding program.