CUI Yongmei
Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Qinghai University / Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Qinghai Tibet Plateau Germplasm Resources / Qinghai Key Laboratory of Hulless Barley Genetics and Breeding / Oinghai Hulless Barley Subcenter of National Triticeae Improvement Center, Xining 810016LI Jie
Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Qinghai University / Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Qinghai Tibet Plateau Germplasm Resources / Qinghai Key Laboratory of Hulless Barley Genetics and Breeding / Oinghai Hulless Barley Subcenter of National Triticeae Improvement Center, Xining 810016ZHANG Li
Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Qinghai University / Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Qinghai Tibet Plateau Germplasm Resources / Qinghai Key Laboratory of Hulless Barley Genetics and Breeding / Oinghai Hulless Barley Subcenter of National Triticeae Improvement Center, Xining 810016YAO Youhua
Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Qinghai University / Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Qinghai Tibet Plateau Germplasm Resources / Qinghai Key Laboratory of Hulless Barley Genetics and Breeding / Oinghai Hulless Barley Subcenter of National Triticeae Improvement Center, Xining 810016YAO Xiaohua
Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Qinghai University / Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Qinghai Tibet Plateau Germplasm Resources / Qinghai Key Laboratory of Hulless Barley Genetics and Breeding / Oinghai Hulless Barley Subcenter of National Triticeae Improvement Center, Xining 810016WU Kunlun
Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Qinghai University / Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Qinghai Tibet Plateau Germplasm Resources / Qinghai Key Laboratory of Hulless Barley Genetics and Breeding / Oinghai Hulless Barley Subcenter of National Triticeae Improvement Center, Xining 810016Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Qinghai University / Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Qinghai Tibet Plateau Germplasm Resources / Qinghai Key Laboratory of Hulless Barley Genetics and Breeding / Oinghai Hulless Barley Subcenter of National Triticeae Improvement Center, Xining 810016
Foundation projects: National Natural Science Foundation of China (32260456); Qinghai Provincial Natural Science Foundation for Young Scholars (2023-ZJ-969Q)
Drought is one of significant environmental stresses in the Tibetan Plateau region. Breeding drought-tolerant varieties in Qingke (Tibetan hulless barley) is an effective strategy to enhance its drought resistance. In this study, we evaluated the drought resistance of 246 Qingke germplasm resources at both the seedling and reproductive stages. The drought resistance was classified by measuring relative electrolyte leakage at the seedling stage, and at the reproductive stage, plant height (PH), spike length (SL), kernels per ear (KN), and thousand grain weight (TGW) were measured and analyzed. A comprehensive evaluation model (D-value) was developed to identify suitable evaluation indices for drought resistance. The results showed that drought stress resulted in a significant decrease of 5.39% to 18.87% in the four drought-related traits at the reproductive stage, with spike length being the most sensitive and significantly correlated with drought resistance. The coefficients of variation of these traits ranged from 11.98% to 24.96%, highlighting substantial variation in drought resistance among the germplasms. Specifically at the seedling and reproductive stages, 21 and 36 were identified as highly-resistant/resistant accessions, respectively, and 84 and 71 were identified as highly-sensitive/sensitive accessions, respectively. When combining the results from both stages, three accessions showed highly-resistant/resistant, and 26 accessions showed highly-sensitive/sensitive. However, there was no significant correlation between relative electrolyte leakage and the comprehensive evaluation D-value. Collectively, this study provides valuable germplasm resources for future breeding programs and deciphering the drought-tolerance mechanisms during critical growth periods of Qingke.