Diallel Analysis of Grain Yield in Barley Using Doubled‐Haploid Lines*

Abstract

Abstract Grain yields of seven barley cultivars ( Hordeum vulgare L.) and 398 doubled‐haploid lines derived from their diallel crosses were evaluated in hill plots at two locations in Ontario. Additive × additive epistasis and linkage disequilibrium were detected in the seven cultivars. Additive × additive genetic variance was significantly greater than zero but additive genetic variance was not significantly greater than zero. The narrow‐sense heritability on the basis of line means was intermediate (0.33). It was predicted that 13.1% yield improvement could be realized in the next recurrent selection cycle using the doubled‐haploid method.