HERITABILITIES, GAINS FROM SELECTION AND GENETIC CORRELATIONS FOR GRAIN-YIELD OF BARLEY GROWN IN 2 CONTRASTING ENVIRONMENTS

Heritabilities and variance component estimates were,obtained from a set of 15 barley lines and cultivars grown for three consecutive years in two contrasting environments in the high plateaux of Eastern Algeria. Genotype X environment interactions, particularly related to seasonal effects, seriously limited selection for increased barley grain yield. Their effect was to reduce the genetic variance component, heritability estimates and genetic correlation coefficients. The results indicated that selection in a high-yielding location does not identify genotypes suitable for low-yielding environments, which are more representative of the production conditions of a low-input agriculture. Selection in low-yielding environments appears more efficient.