Options for evaluating the yield response of malting barley varieties to environmental conditions in the Slovak Republic

Barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) is the third most important grain crop after wheat and maize in Europe, but the average annual increase in barley yield was 37 kg/ha during period of 1970-2020. The aim of the study was to evaluate the expression of yield potential of eight malt barley genotypes under agro-climatic conditions of the Danubian Hills region in southwestern Slovakia. The effect of season had a decisive share (62.7%) in the total variability of yields. The contrasting nature of the evaluated years is documented by the differences in yields of the set of evaluated varieties in an ascending order: 4.23 t/ha, 6.10 t/ha up to 8.17 t/ha during 2012-2013-2014.The effects of site and genotypes were evident, but with a relatively low contribution of 14.13% and 1.03% of site and genotypes, respectively, to the total variability in grain yield of barley, which indicate the relative consistency of the set of genotypes evaluated. The environmental index (EI) of yields confirmed the different environmental conditions manifested by the expression of yield potential ranging from 5.17 t/ha to 7.31 t/ha. The EI expression of yields for individual years and locations can be considered as an important indicator, indicating a better interpretation of the suitability of the locality for the cultivation of a given crop. The above conclusions reached from the experimental results support the need for more detailed data analysis of varieties to given agro-climatic conditions in order to select suitable genotypes for sustainable farming systems.