Adaptive Potential of Winter Wheat’s Source Material in the Middle Volga

Abstract

The results from the assessed adaptability of 14 soft winter wheat varieties of domestic breeding and 29 breeding lines from the Lukyanenko Scientific Center of Agriculture are provided. The stress-resistant varieties with the maximum range of adaptive abilities—Spartak, Marafon, Esaul, Zhemchyuzhina Povolzhya, and L. 351-04 ya0-19-7 line—are marked. The following varieties were characterized by the average yield in contrasting conditions: Vyuga—5.85 t/ha; Severodonetskaya Yubileinaya—5.88 t/ha; Bazis—5.82 t/ha; Zimnitsa—5.62 t/ha; 679 Sv-93 line—6.28 t/ha; and L. 351-04-ya0-19-7 line—6.01 t/ha. The varieties Bazis, Vyuga, and Zimnitsa showed the maximum experimental yield under favorable conditions—7.78, 8.25, and 7.93 t/ha, respectively, which was higher than the yield of the standard Biryuza variety under adverse conditions by 1.16, 0.73, and 0.62 t/ha. According to the drought-tolerance index, varieties Spartak, Severodonetskaya Yubileinaya, Esaul, and Zhemchyuzhina Povolzhya are promising. The falling number of the studied varieties under unfavorable conditions exceeded the norm for wheat of the first class (250–396 s). Under stress conditions, it decreased to 79 s in a number of varieties. The mass fraction of protein and gluten in the grain of most varieties was characterized by low stability. In adverse conditions, the mass fraction of protein in the grain decreased to 10.4% and raw gluten to 17.4%, which is 61.9 and 52.6% of the level of the year favorable for the formation of qualitative grain. The most stable indicators of grain quality are observed in the Biryuza and Vyuga varieties. In adverse conditions, the falling-number was 316 s in Biryuza variety and 395 s in the Vyuga variety. The mass fraction of protein was 14.5 and 14.0%, and raw gluten was 28.2 and 30.0%, respectively.