Response of some barley cultivars with different drought tolerance characteristics to fall and spring plantings

The response of eight barley cultivars with different drought tolerance characters (Tadmor, Arta, Baronesse, Harrington, Sladoran, Bolayır, Aydanhanım, Tokak157/37) to fall and spring planting under Tokat/Kazova conditions were determined. The study was carried out between 2014/15 and 2015/16 growing periods in Tokat as a randomized block design with 4 replications. Drought tolerance of cultivars were examined using agronomic traits such as heading time, plant height, time to maturity, loding rate, biomass yield, number of grains per spike, number of spikes per square meter, grain yields, thousand-seed weight, test weight and hervest index. In 2014/15 period, heading time of cultivars were between 84.0 and 173.4 days, time to maturity 113.2 and 217.2 days, lodging rate 22.3 and 33.0%, number of grains per spike 21.8 and 24.6, number of spikes per square meter 389 and 538, grain yields 4.745 and 5.716 t/ha, thousand-seed weight 42.5 and 49.9 g, test weight 66.5 and 66.5 kg, harvest index 46.9 and 48.3%. In 2015/16 period, heading time of cultivars were between 80.8 and 165.8 days, time to maturity 114.0 and 213.2 days, lodging rate 17.3 and 20.4%, number of grains per spike 19.8 and 20.8, number of spikes per square meter 291 and 434, grain yields 2.859 and 3.760 t/ha, thousand-seed weight 48.2 and 49.8 g, test weight 64.0 and 66.4 kg, harvest index 31.8 and 38.4%. Drought tolerance index in grain yield of cultivars were between 63.3 and 113.1% in 2014/15 period and 63.5 and 96.0% in 2015/16 period. According to the result obtained from the research, the overall average grain yield was 17% higher in fall planting compared to spring planting in the 2015 trial year and 24% higher in the 2016 trial year. It was determined that the Tokak 157/37, Arta and Tadmor were prominent in terms of some measurements related to drought tolerance. Better results were obtained from fall planting than spring planting. It was found that winter or facultative barley varieties cannot adapt to spring growing conditions due to possible influence of some genes related to growth habit. Keywords: Performance, Yield, High temperature, Time to maturity, Earliness