Evaluation of chlorophyll fluorescence in different densities of spring barley

Over the period 2008–2009, field experiments were carried out at the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture on an Endocalcari-Epihypogleyic Cambisol (CMg-p-w-can). The study was aimed to establish the effects of spring barley crop stand density on the chlorophyll fluorescence and to estimate the relationship between grain yield and chlorophyll fluorescence value. The tests involved three spring barley varieties—Aura DS, Barke and Gustav. The three different stand densities were formed with seed rates of two, four and six million viable seeds per hectare. Our research findings indicated that increasing spring barley stand density did not exert any negative influence on major photosynthetic processes and did not result in any significant qualitative changes in light harvesting system. A significant varietal (factor B) influence was established on minimum fluorescence (Fo) and maximum fluorescence (Fm) values after short dark adaptation indicators (Ffact. = 19.66** and Ffact. = 9.33**, respectively). Growth stage (factor C) significantly influenced all fluorescence indicators—Fo, Fm and quantum efficiency of PSII after short dark adaptation (Fv/Fm)—in the five cases of the six tested. A significant effect of variety and growth stage interaction (B × C) was determined for 66.7% of the tested cases. The article presents a correlation between the grain yield of spring barley and fluorescence parameters. In most cases, the correlation was strong and significant. The interaction between the fluorescence parameters for individual varieties was responsible for 53.8–76.2% of grain yield data variation, which averaged over all varieties, amounted to 21.9–46.1%.