| Summary: | This study evaluated F5 breeding lines, which were obtained by crossing five parents of spring spelt from different geographical regions characterized by various morphological and performance traits. A total of 11 quantitative traits were analyzed, including six traits relating to yield components, four traits relating to grain quality, and one trait relating to plant height and sensitivity to lodging. The applied clustering method supported the identification of four groups of breeding lines which were presented graphically in a heatmap with dendrogram. Group I contained 33.0% of the breeding lines, and it was most distant from the remaining groups. It was composed of tall plants characterized by high values of yield components, high fat content, and high sensitivity to lodging. Groups III (30.4%) and IV (17.0%) were most similar and were characterized by lower values of yield components, a high content of protein, ash and fiber, and lower sensitivity to lodging. Group II contained 19.6% of the breeding lines, and it was more similar to groups III and IV than group I. Breeding lines with satisfactory performance traits can be selected from each group and used to breed new varieties with the desired traits.
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