Spring barley performances in the Pannonian zone

Environmental conditions in the Pannonian zone can be characterized with moderate high temperature and partially water deficit during grain filling of spring barley, although low temperature and water deficit are possible also in period till anthesis. This study was conducted to evaluate the variation of the duration of the period from emergence to anthesis (VP), duration of grain filling period (GFP), plant height (PH), spikes number m-2 (SN), grains number spike-1 (GN), thousand grains weight (GW) and yield (YIL) in spring two-rowed barley in conditions of the Pannonian zone. All three factors; genotype, environment and the interaction GxY affected the studied traits. Average VP was 777 GDD, GFP 782 GDD, PH 78 cm, SN 523, GN 28.2, GW 43.2 g and YIL 6.26 t ha-1. Variation across varieties was higher than across growing seasons. Heritability varied from 0.66 for YIL to 0.94 for VP and GFP. This study confirmed that a sufficiently large genetic variability must be base for selecting appropriate varieties for the Pannonian zone conditions. In order to determine high yielding and quality barley extensive research in relation to breeding, variety choice for production and growing practice must be done.