II.3. A new character in barley - the squareheaded ear.
F. Kh. Bakhteyev., Department of Distant Hybridization, Main Botanical Garden of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow, I-276, USSR.
In the summer of 1973, ears of six-rowed barley with a compact apex were discovered which in the experimental plots were similar to that of squareheaded wheat.
As far as it is known, such a character has never been registered. However, according to N. I. Vavilov's law of homologous series, squareheaded form of the ear may occur not only in wheat, but also in other spike-like cereals.
Squareheaded ears of barley, found at the experimental station in Snigiri are notable for being similar in their compactness to the varietas pallidum (d=7-14), from the half of the ear length up to its 2/3, from the bottom upwards, whereas the other part of the ear, the uppermost one, is distinctly compact as in the varietas parallelum (d=15-18), or in pyramidatum (d=more 18).
References:
Vavilov, N. I. The law of homologous series in variation. J. Genet., 1922, V. 12, NI. pp. 47-89, 2 pl. tbl.
