Phenotypic variability and the application of synthetic variables in barley

摘要

The phenotypic variability of 8 traits in 14 crosses of 9 barley genotypes (mutants and parents) was reanalysed from phytotron data previously published, covering materials of two photoperiods and three thermoperiods. The basic data were structurally considered to consist of circa 600 eight-dimensional observations. Synthetic variables, built on linear combinations of the values of each measured trait, were constructed to define in more detail the effects on variability of different phytotron conditions and their interactions. Analyses of variance, using in turn the coefficient of variation, the range and the standard deviation, have been carried out. The analyses show, inter alia, that thermoperiod effects do in fact exist; chiefly, however, in the form of interactions with the photoperiod. Some rare genotype effects are found, but most commonly photoperiod and thermoperiod act independently of genotype.