A differential response of a two-row barley and a six-row barley to detillering under a restricted watering regime

Abstract

The effect of detillering on the growth and yield of a six-row barley (cv. Beecher) and a two-row barley (cv. Schooner) grown under adequate and restricted watering was studied in a glasshouse experiment. The vegetative growth of both varieties responded in a like manner to detillering and reduced watering, but there were significant differences in the grain yield responses. Detillering reduced the grain yield per plant in both the non-stressed and stressed treatments of Schooner and the non-stressed treatment of Beecher, but had no significant effect on the yield of Beecher when watering was restricted. The experiment indicated that there may be genetic differences in response to detillering under some conditions and suggests that some caution needs to be exercised when using detillering experiments to predict the value of genetic uniculms.