Production, Morphology and Meiosis of Reciprocal Barley-Wheat Hybrids

The intercrossing of wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Chinese Spring) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Betzes) yielded hybrids at a frequency of 0.80% of pollinated florets for the barley-wheat combinations and 0.23% for the reciprocal cross. An increase in homoeologous pairing of wheat chromosomes was observed in both hybrids compared with the pairing observed in wheat haploids indicating that the barley genome had pairing promoting properties. Cytological abnormalities such as hyperploid meiotic cells and isochromosomes were attributed to abnormalities at premeiotic mitosis.