Diallel analysis of high lysine barley, Hordeum vulgare L

Thirteen characters describing the seed proteins and yield capacity of four normal and six high lysine barley lines were investigated in a diallel cross. For all the lines there was a highly significant negative correlation between content of crude protein and its dye‐binding capacity per unit of protein. The average regression coefficient was ‐0.027 in the normal lysine lines. In the high lysine mutant 1508 it was ‐0.060 and ‐0.038 in the remaining high lysine lines. For all characters except two, significant differences were revealed between the averages of the normal and the high lysine lines. When four of the high lysine mutant lines were compared with their respective mother lines, significant differences were detected for most of the characters. On the basis of classification of the F 2 ‐seeds from the complete diallel cross for grain filling, it was shown that the six high lysine lines contain five different recessive genes leading to shrivelled seeds. These genes seem to be independent, except in Hiproly and the mutant 56, where linkage between two of them was indicated. Due to the close negative relationship between the degree of grain filling and the dye‐binding capacity of the seed proteins, a pleiotropic action for the two characters is inferred.