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2025 Vol.38, Issue 6 Preview Page

Research Article

Agro-morphological Diversity in Global Barley Collections with a Comparative Study of Wild and Cultivated Varieties
Kebede Taye Desta1
,
Myoung-Jae Shin2
,
Eunae Yoo3
,
Gi-An Lee4
,
Me-Sun Kim1
,
Chong-Tae Chung5
,
Jungyoon Yi4
,
Yu-Mi Choi3
1Post-doc,, National Agrobiodiversity Center, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rural Development Administration, Jeonju 54874, Korea
2Researcher, Office of Innovative Administration and Legal Affairs, Rural Development Administration, Jeonju 54875, Korea
3Researcher, National Agrobiodiversity Center, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rural Development Administration, Jeonju 54874, Korea
4Senior Researcher, National Agrobiodiversity Center, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rural Development Administration, Jeonju 54874, Korea
5Senior Researcher, Technological Development Bureau, Chungcheongnam-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services, Yasan 32418, Korea
*Corresponding Author
1 December 2025. pp. 709-722
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Abstract

This study examined the agro-morphological diversity of 423 cultivated and 78 wild barley accessions collected from six continents and grown during the 2022-2023 winter season in Korea. The use of the standardized Shannon-Weaver index, Chi-square test, and analysis of variance revealed significant variation in both qualitative and quantitative traits. Cultivated types were mainly semi-erect in growth habit (66.19%), while 87.18% of wild types were intermediate. The flag leaf attitude in wild types was mostly horizontal (97.44%), whereas cultivated types commonly had horizontal (47.28%) and semi-erect (32.15%) flag leaves. Wild barley demonstrated stronger cold resistance, with 50.00% being intermediate- resistant and 46.15% semi-resistant. In contrast, 27.90% of cultivated types were susceptible, and 14.42% sustained severe damage. Wild types all had two-rowed spikes and hulled grains, while 77.54% and 13.71% of cultivated types were six-rowed and hulless, respectively. Asian accessions showed the highest proportion of semi-erect growth habit (59.88%), and European accessions were mostly intermediate (51.56%). Cold resistance was strongest among Asian and European accessions, while African accessions were found to be the most susceptible. Quantitative trait analyses revealed that cultivated types had a higher average number of grains per spike compared to wild barley. Conversely, wild barley produced heavier grains (48.40 g) than cultivated types (41.81 g). African accessions were the tallest (108.73 ㎝), while Oceanian accessions were the shortest (70.53 ㎝). Multivariate analysis effectively distinguished accessions by type and region, showing diverse associations among quantitative traits. Overall, this study highlights the agro-morphological variation among wild and cultivated barley genotypes of different origins, identifying nineteen top-performing accessions with desirable qualities.

Keywords
Categorical traits
Crop diversity
Germplasm
Morphology
Quantitative traits
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Information
  • Publisher :The Plant Resources Society of Korea
  • Publisher(Ko) :한국자원식물학회
  • Journal Title :Korean Journal of Plant Resources
  • Journal Title(Ko) :한국자원식물학회지
  • Volume : 38
  • No :6
  • Pages :709-722
  • Received Date : 2025-06-20
  • Revised Date : 2025-07-23
  • Accepted Date : 2025-08-11
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.7732/kjpr.2025.38.6.709
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