Effect of cultivar and year on final leaf number in winter barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

Abstract

Leaf emergence represents externally visible trait that is results of externally not visible leaf primordial initiation. Final leaf number initiated in the apex and the rate of leaf emergence determine of pre-anthesis phases. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of year and cultivars on final leaf number (FLN) in winter barley. In the present study no consistent differences were found in the FLN between 6-rowed and 2- rowed cultivars. FLN differs among barley varieties sown in the field at different years and was controlled by all three factors; cultivar, year and their interaction. Contribution of year in FLN variation was highest, about 74%. This can be explained as a direct effect of the year on the rate of leaf appearance or as an indirect effect of an ontogenetic decline in the rate of appearance. Low value of interaction showed stability of leaf number from year to year. Considered across the growing seasons (GSs), the early cultivar Novosadski 581 had the lowest (11.3) and the late cultivar Kredit the highest (14.7) FLN. In average the early cultivars had one leaf less than the late ones. Earliness is rather the result of leaf number reduction than grain filling reduction.