Specifics of yield formation and grain quality of winter wheat in the Central Chernozem Region

Abstract

The results of multiannual studies (2017-2021) of winter wheat in the southeast of the Central Chernozem region are presented. The purpose of the work is to study the peculiarities of yield formation and grain quality of the crop in the local natural and climatic conditions. The research material included the varieties Bazalt, Krastal, Chernozemka 130, Chernozemka 115, and Bazalt 2. Yield along with parameters of adaptability, ecological plasticity and stability, as well as protein and gluten content in grain were determined. The correlation dependence of yield, protein and gluten content in grain with air temperature and precipitation during the spring-summer vegetation period was established for each variety. The possibility of obtaining high crop yields in the region with protein and gluten content in the grain not lower than the 3rd class, as well as the variation of the studied indicators by year was shown. The environmental factor limiting the yield and quality of grain in the region, in the spring-summer and autumn periods of the growing season is drought. The key ten-days of the months of spring-summer vegetation (April-July), the hydrothermal conditions of which have a significant impact on the formation of yield, the amount of protein and gluten in the grain, were determined. These include the second ten-day period of April, the second ten-day period of May, the second and third ten-day periods of June, and the first ten-day period of July. Air temperature and precipitation during these ten-day periods have a strong correlation of different directions with grain yield and quality. The quantitative expressions of the correlation coefficients differ by varieties, but their values are close and are within the same dependence group.