II.25 Branching in barley spikes.
Ganesh Prasad. Department of Agricultural Botany, S.D.J. Post Graduate College, Chandeshwar, Azamgarh, U.P., India.
Plants with branched ear have been reported in interspecific and intergeneric crosses of wheat (Sharma, 1944; Tsitsin, 1963) or in the mutagen treated population (Swaminathan and Sastry, 1966 Gill and Sethi, 1970). Ear branching has been suggested by Asana (1970) as a plant type which bears more number of spikelets and thereby increases the grain production.
Two plants with branched ear were observed in the segregating population of an intervarietal cross in 6-rowed barley. One plant had branched ear in only one tiller and there was single branching (Fig. 1a) which did not breed true in the next generation. The other plant had all the tillers with branched spikes, the branching was in such a fashion as the spikes looked to be deformed and compact (Figs. 1b,c,d). This character was true breeding and when crossed with normal plants, F1 produced normal spikes. Pollen and ovule fertility were normal. Further studies on the inheritance of this type of ear branching are in progress.
Figure 1. Samples of branched spikes. a, single branching. b,c,d, multiple branching.
References:
Asana, R.D. 1970. A new technology for dryland farming. IARI-55.
Gill, K.S and G.S. Sethi, 1970. A multiple branching ear induced in PV 18 wheat. Ind. J. Hered. 2:63-64.
Sharma, B.C., 1944. Nature 153: 497.
Swaminathan, M.S. and G.K.R. Sastry, 1966. Expression and stability of an induced mutation for ear branching in bread wheat. Current Sci. 35: 91-92.
Tsitsin, N.V., 1963. In hybrids of remote crossing and polyploids, USSR Acad. Sc. Publ. House: p. 25.
