Spelt (Triticum spelta L.) Genotypes from the Western Balkan Countries

Abstract

The yield components participate in the formation of the overall yield and vary within the genotype and environmental factors. The aim of this research was to evaluate yield components of spelt genotypes originating from different Western Balkan countries. Spelt genotypes were examined during two growing seasons 2015/16 and 2016/17 in the agro-ecological conditions of Banja Luka. Nine spelt genotypes were used, i.e. landrace Sitnica from Manjača mountain (the Republic of Srpska, B&H), seven Montenegrin landraces KP34LJ5-1/34 (SP1), KR16LJ5-1/16 (SP2), KR29LJ5-1/29 (SP3), KR12LJ5-1/12 (SP4), KR15LJ5-1/15 (SP5), LJ5-1/9 (SP6), KR20LJ5-1/20 (SP7) and cultivar Nirvana from Serbia. Standard production practices were applied for these spelt genotypes. Five traits were analyzed: the number of spikes m-2, plant height, spike length, the number of grains spike-1 and spike index. A two-factorial analysis of variance was performed and significant differences between treatment means were tested by the Fisher's LSD test at P≤0.05 and P≤0.01 significance level. Genotypes SP4 (140.38 cm), SP5 (138.82 cm), Sitnica (137.66 cm) and SP6 (135.65 cm) showed tendency of forming a relatively higher plants. Sitnica had the longest spikes (14.07 cm), while Montenegrin genotypes had relatively shorter spikes of 6.79 cm on average. Genotypes SP2, SP4, SP5, SP6 and SP7 obtained the highest number of grains per spike while the highest average spike index was obtained in SP7 (0.81).