Yield composition of two-rowed and multi-rowed barleys in drilled and single-plant populations in southern and northern Finnish experiments

Authors

• Kirsti Äyräväinen Department of Plant Husbandry, University of Helsinki, 00710 Helsinki

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23986/afsci.71902

Abstract

Northern location was found to accelerate the development of multirowed barley varieties more than that of two-rowed varieties. In drilled trials two rowed varieties even required longer growing periods in the north than in the south. Single-plant populations developed more slowly than drilled populations and produced larger biological and grain yields per plant. They also produced higher numbers of culms and ears and higher proportions of leaves in the biological yield than the drills own trials. On the other hand, adventitious shoots were more abundant and the ratio of grain yield to biological yield was lower in the single-plant trials than in the drilled trials. In general, multi-rowed varieties were significantly earlier than two-rowed varieties. In single-plant trials the two-rowed barleys, due to their good tillering capacity, gave a larger biological yield than the multi-rowed barleys. Grain yield in single-plant trials was in the south higher from the two-rowed varieties but in the north from the multirowed varieties. There were no differences due to barley type or locality in the proportions of different plant organs in the biological yield. Correlation coefficients between grain yield and some factors affecting it. is also treated.