Producers on the Canadian Prairies grow barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) as a forage crop for ruminants, especially cattle. The purpose of our study was to determine methods to improve our selection of barley lines with superior forage value for ruminants. Data from the Western Cooperative Forage Barley Registration Test were used with permission of the Prairie Recommending Committee for Oat and Barley (PRCOB) and the breeders. Data were analyzed from 20 environments collected from 3 yr (2012–2014) and seven sites. We measured forage accumulation (FA) at the soft dough stage, five nutritive value traits, and three derived cow–calf variables. Although the variation in FA and forage nutritive value traits attributed to environment (E) was large, significant genotypic (G) effects were found for all traits measured. Whereas G× E effects were also significant, the mean square effect for G was up to 40 times higher than the mean squares for G×E. The proportion of variance attributed to G was greater for nutritive value traits than for FA. Significance of G means there was variability in the germplasm tested, and improvement through selection should be possible. The two parametric methods of stability analyses (Francis–Kannenberg method and Eberhart–Russell method) often identified the same lines as superior. Lines that were superior for FA and carrying capacity (cow on swath grazing, CC) were often different from those identified as superior for nutritive value, empty body weight gain (cow, EBWG) and average daily gain (backgrounding calf, ADG). A nonparametric method used to determine dynamic stability (Nassar–Hühn method) identified different lines as superior from the parametric methods. Breeders can use a combination of these selection criteria in breeding forage barley varieties with enhanced forage value for ruminants.

中文翻译：

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饲用大麦评价中的育种策略

加拿大大草原的生产者种植大麦（Hordeum vulgareL.) 作为反刍动物，尤其是牛的饲料作物。我们研究的目的是确定改进我们为反刍动物选择具有优良饲草价值的大麦品系的方法。来自西部合作牧草大麦注册测试的数据经草原燕麦和大麦推荐委员会 (PRCOB) 和育种者许可使用。从 3 年（2012-2014 年）和七个站点收集的 20 个环境中分析数据。我们测量了软面团阶段的草料积累 (FA)、五个营养价值特征和三个衍生的牛 - 小牛变量。尽管归因于环境 (E) 的 FA 和草料营养价值性状的变异很大，但对所有测量的性状都发现了显着的基因型 (G) 影响。而 G×E 效应也很显着，G 的均方效应比 G×E 的均方效应高 40 倍。营养价值性状归因于 G 的方差比例大于 FA。G 的显着性意味着测试的种质存在变异性，通过选择进行改进应该是可能的。稳定性分析的两种参数方法（Francis-Kannenberg 方法和 Eberhart-Russell 方法）通常将相同的线确定为优级。FA 和承载能力（母牛放牧，CC）优越的品系通常与营养价值、空腹增重（母牛，EBWG）和平均日增重（背景小牛，ADG）优良的品系不同。用于确定动态稳定性的非参数方法（Nassar-Hühn 方法）将不同的线确定为优于参数方法。