Abstract:
Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) belongs to the family Poaceae, tribe Triticaeae and genus Hordeum. An experiment
was carried out to assess genetic diversity by cluster and principal component analysis (PCA) for yield and its
contributing characters in Sixty four barley genotypes. The varieties were tested in 8x8 simple lattice design at
Atsbi, Ofla and Quiha environments in Tigray region, in 2009/10. Cluster analysis revealed that the 64 genotypes
were grouped in 5 distinct clusters for Atsbi and Quiha, while it was 6 for Ofla. Distance between clusters showed
significant difference except between cluster I with III at Atsbi, between cluster II and III with IV at Quiha, and
between cluster III and IV, and cluster II and IV at Ofla respectively, for most of studied characters. Principal
component analysis showed that the first four principal components explained about 82.16% of the total
variation, while the first three principal components with 69.27% and 72.04% at Ofla and Quiha environments
respectively.
