Heritability of physiological traits of barley (Hordeum Vulgare L.) under salinity stress

Background: In this paper, to determine the genetic parameters and heritability of physiological traits related to salinity stress in barley (Hordeum Vulgare L.), a 7x7 half diallel cross was conducted at Islamic Azad University, Ardabil, during 2016-2017. Methods: F1 seeds are used in this experiment. These seeds have been grown under non-stress conditions, 8 and 12 dS/ m salinity stress levels, in a greenhouse alongside the parent plants. After exposure of plants to salinity, Leaf chlorophyll content, Chlorophyll Fluorescence and Stomatal Conductance were measured. Results: Narrow sense heritability of chlorophyll content ranged from 0.29 to 0.40. These values for chlorophyll fluorescence ranged from 0.16 to 0.24 and for stomata! conductance ranged from 0.26 to 0.54. Broad sense heritability was high among the evaluated traits and ranged from 0.70 to 0.87. The degree of average dominance was higher than one in all of traits. Conclusion: This observation indicated some degree of over dominance in control of the traits. Although dominant alleles were not observed in leaf chlorophyll content and chlorophyll fluorescence, yet they were favorable in stomatal conductance.