Barley

Barley
Scientific name: Hordium vulgare L.
Local names: ‘Jab’, ‘Jau’
Taxonomic Position According to Cronquist (1988)
Kingdom | Plantae |
Division | Magnoliophyta |
Class | Liliopsida |
Subclass | Commelinidae |
Order | Poales |
Family | Poaceae |
Genus | Hordium |
Species | H. vulgare |
Botanical Description of Barley
Habit: An annual grass
Root: Fibrous root system
Stem: Culms 60-120 cm tall, erect, glabrous.
Leaf: Leaf blades linear, 5-40 x 0.4- 1.5 cm, flat, scaberulous, with 2 auricles at the base, ligules 1-3 mm long, truncate, sheaths loose, completely glabrous, striate.
Inflorescence: A terminal, solitary spike, 6-12 cm long excluding the awns, erect at first and curved afterwards, spikelets on opposite sides of the rachis, rachis nondisarticulating, puberulent along the margin.
Spikelet: Spikelets in threes, seated in the cavities of the inarticulate rachis, 1-flowered or the lateral imperfect, central spikelets 8-12 mm long excluding the awns, sessile. Glumes 2, persistent, 7-8 mm long including the awn, subulate, 1-nerved, puberulent at the base. Lateral florets bisexual or male, central florets bisexual. Lemmas lanceolate, 9-11 x 3 mm, indurate, 5-nerved, scabrous on the nerves toward the tip, otherwise glabrous, awn 6-15 cm long. Paleas 8-10 mm long, deeply folded between the keels, puberulent.
Perianth: Lodicules 2.
Androecium: Stamens 3, anthers c 1.5 mm long.
Gynoecium: Stigmas white.
Fruit: Caryopsis ovoid or narrowly oblong, 8-10 x 3 mm, grooved in front, tightly enclosed in the lemmas and paleas, embryo small.
Economic importance: Grain is used in brewing beer. It is widely used as a feed for livestock . Grains are useful in bronchitis, biliousness, asthma, ulcer, anemia and also used in the dietary of the sick.
Table 1. Barley varieties developed by BARI, Joydebpur, Bangladesh
Serial Number | Name of variety | Developed by | Growing season | Average yield (t ha-1) |
1 | BARI Barley-1 | Plant Breeding Division, BARI | Rabi | 2.0-2.5 |
2 | BARI Barley-2 | Plant Breeding Division, BARI | Rabi | 2.0-2.75 |
3 | BARI Barley-3 | Plant Breeding Division, BARI | Rabi | 2.0-2.50 |
4 | BARI Barley-4 | Plant Breeding Division, BARI | Rabi | 1.75-2.0 |
5 | BARI Barley-5 | Plant Breeding Division, BARI | Rabi | 2.5-3.0 |
6 | BARI Barley-6 | Plant Breeding Division, BARI | Rabi | 2.5-2.75 |
7 | BARI Barley-7 | Plant Breeding Division, BARI | Rabi | 2.2-2.5 |
8 | BARI Barley-8 | Plant Breeding Division, BARI | Rabi | 2.20 – 2.51 |
9 | BARI Barley-9 | Plant Breeding Division, BARI | Rabi | 2.20 |