Malting Quality of ICARDA Elite Winter Barley (<i>Hordeum vulgare</i> L.) Germplasm Grown in Moroccan Middle Atlas

The use of barley (<i>Hordeum vulgare</i> L.) in Morocco is still limited to food and feed despite the amplified demand by local industries for imported malt. This study aims to evaluate 36 barley elite lines for major grain physicochemical parameters and malt quality traits. Analysis of variance, Pearson correlation, principal component analysis (PCA), and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) were performed. The results showed significant genotypic variation among genotypes for individual grain and malt traits. High broad sense heritability was obtained for all traits except for plump grain percentage, malt friability, and germination capacity. Starch, malt extract, Kolbach index, grain area, and test weight correlated significantly and negatively with barley protein. Malt extract correlated positively with Kolbach index and starch, but a negative correlation with soluble protein and malt protein was found. Based on 12 characters, 77% of the total genotypic variation was explained by the three first principal components following PCA and four clusters were depicted based on HCA. Genotypes of high interest with desirable levels of quality standards were identified to be used as a malt quality traits donor while designing crossing programs. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/03610470.2021.1978036 .尽管摩洛哥当地工业对进口麦芽的需求持续攀升，但目前该国大麦（*Hordeum vulgare* L.）的应用仍局限于粮食与饲料领域。本研究旨在对36份大麦优异品系的主要籽粒理化参数及麦芽品质性状开展评价。本研究采用方差分析、皮尔逊相关分析、主成分分析（Principal Component Analysis, PCA）以及系统聚类分析（Hierarchical Cluster Analysis, HCA）。结果显示，不同基因型大麦在单籽粒性状与麦芽性状上均存在显著的基因型变异。除饱满籽粒率、麦芽脆度及发芽力外，其余所有性状均表现出较高的广义遗传力。淀粉、麦芽浸出物、科巴赫指数（Kolbach Index）、籽粒面积及容重与大麦蛋白质含量呈显著负相关。麦芽浸出物与科巴赫指数及淀粉呈显著正相关，而与可溶性蛋白及麦芽蛋白呈显著负相关。基于12项性状指标，主成分分析结果显示前3个主成分可解释总基因型变异的77%；系统聚类分析则将供试材料划分为4个类群。本研究筛选出符合优质麦芽品质标准的优异基因型，可作为麦芽品质性状供体用于杂交育种计划的设计。本文补充数据可在线获取：https://doi.org/10.1080/03610470.2021.1978036。