Variation in anther size in wild barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum)

Abstract

The lengths of anthers were measured in plants derived from field‐collected seeds of wild barley (Hordeurn vulgare ssp. spontaneum) from West Asia, Egypt, Iran, Crete and Turkey. Measurements were obtained from 478 anthers coming from 46 plants and 15 populations. In a nested ANOVA which estimated thc variation among populations, plants, florets and anthers within florets. the between‐population variance was found to contribute the largest variance component. The variation in anther lengths among populations was compared with the variation in other plant measurements, e.g., lengths and widths of flag leaves, lengths of awns, culms and heads, numbers of spikes per plant, and seed weights. Strong positive correlations were found between anther lengths and the lengths of the heads and the seed weights. A negative correlation was found between the anther lengths and the number of spikes produced per plant. Anther lengths were not correlated with the primary or secondary nature of the habitat. Populations collected from the same geographical region had similar anther lengths, and anthers from more northerly collection sites (e.g., Crete) were longer than those from southern locations (e.g., Egypt and West Asia). We believe that the variation in anther length reflects a general difference among the populations in the size of their reproductive structures rather than differences in breeding systems or varying genetic and ecological interactions between sponruneum plants and cultivated barley forms. This covariation of different reproductive parts, and its relationship to factors such as the length of the vegetative period and the number of spikes produced per plant, require further investigation. Copyright © 1988, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved