PRODUCTIVITY OF WINTER SOFT WHEAT VARIETIES IN THE ARID PART OF THE SOUTH OF RUSSIA

The branch of plant breeding in theRepublicofKalmykiais not of the primary importance but the production of grain, especially winter wheat is paid much attention to. The share of winter wheat in the gross grain production is of 65.7-79.6% during the last 10-20 years. It is caused by the fact that winter wheat uses bioclimatic potential of the area better than other crops. The main task of the farmers is to receive high yields of grain with seeds of good quality. To fulfill the task it’s necessary to use all available reserves in the technology of grain production. One of such reserves is the implementation of new and promising varieties of winter wheat with great adaptability to the local soil-climatic conditions. Kalmykia RIA together with Krasnodar RIA has been carrying out the trials to develop the varieties of winter wheat in heavy soil- climatic conditions. During the trials the study of 125 varieties of winter wheat developed by different breeding institutions showed the possibility to obtain stable yields with seeds of good quality. There have been identified the most productive varieties and breeding lines with an average productivity of 22.4-24.9 hwt/ha. We have determined the response of the varieties and lines on suddenly changing hydrothermal conditions during the vegetation; we have identified the most adapted to the local conditions varieties ‘Don107’, ‘Bulgun’, “Khasyr’, ‘Kapitan’, ‘Yashkulyanka’ and line ‘629/10’. We have studied quality of the grain, which was formed under various hydrothermal conditions of the vegetation period. It has been determined that in the extreme conditions of vegetation in 2014 the varieties formed grain with better physical and chemical indexes. While improving of the conditions of vegetation (the increase of precipitations in 2013-2015) there was a tendency of worsening of grain quality of the studied varieties, especially in the amount of protein, gluten and its quality. The varieties ‘Bulgun’, “Khasyr’ and ‘Yashkulyanka’ have been identified as the varieties giving grain of best quality