THE IMPACT OF WATER AND TEMPERATURE STRESSES ON GERMINATING ABILITY OF WINTER DURUM WHEAT SEEDS YIELDED IN THE YEARS WITH VARIOUS WEATHER CONDITIONS

Abstract

The study was conducted in 2016–2018. The objects were three commercial varieties developed by the FSBSI “Agricultural Research Center “Donskoy”, one of which was the standard variety “Donchanka” in the SVT system in the Rostov Region. The purpose of the research was to comprehensively estimate winter durum wheat seeds yielded in the years with various weather conditions due to their resistance to moisture deficit and heat. According to the results of laboratory study, the current paper has presented indicators of relative drought tolerance and heat resistance. The germinating ability of the studied varieties of winter durum wheat “Lazurit” and “Oniks” was better than that of the standard variety “Donchanka” in all concentrations of the solution. Using an osmotic solution with a concentration of 12 and 14 atm all varieties possessed great germinating ability and belonged to the first resistance group. At a critical concentration of osmotic pressure (16 atm), the number of germinated seeds ranged from 69.4% (“Lazurit”) to 63% (“Donchanka”). It has been established that the seeds of the studied winter durum wheat varieties were characterized by little germinating ability under an increasing water stress, while the seeds of different years of reproduction had a different response to water stress. It has been identified that the seeds of the studied varieties significantly varied in their germinating ability after heating. The variety “Oniks” was the most resistant to temperature stress with a germination rate of 86.7% (1-st resistance group) that is on 14% higher than the control variety “Donchanka”. The variety “Lazurit” with a germination rate of 80.2% also belonged to the first resistance group and exceeded the control variety by only 8%. According to the degree of depression in the accumulation of dry sprouts mass under the high temperature impact (thermal testing at +54 °С), the variety “Oniks” was the best with the depression degree of 8.2%. In 2016 the variety “Lazurit” was the most stable, in 2017 and 2018 it was the variety “Oniks”.