Inheritance of 16 Barley Characters and Their Linkage Relationships

The assignment of genetic factors to definite loci in the hereditary mechanism has been a great step in the progress of biology. Of the cereal crops, barley (Hordeum sp.), a crop of economic importance, offers a superior opportunity for genetic studies. Its adaptation to wide varieties of conditions, with a wealth of easily differentiated characters and only seven pairs of chromosomes, the barley plant provides excellent material for linkage studies. Although there is a vast amount of literature dealing with inheritance in barley, yet knowledge of the subject is still very limited. The mode of inheritance of about one hundred characters has been studied and linkage relations of nearly thirty-five characters have been made. The location of a relatively large number of them is still unknown. All the seven linkage groups are established and distinct viable characters are available in six of them, although but few in some cases. The desirability of making further studies in this crop is quite apparent. This manuscript contains the results of observations and experiments with sixteen characters which include three new characters not reported in the literature. All character pairs in each cross studied were checked for possible linkages or independence. The importance of such a study in the future improvement of the barley crop needs no emphasis