INITIONAL MATERIAL FOR BREEDING STRESS-RESISTANT WINTER WHEAT CULTIVARS

Abstract

The paper presents the results of 50-year research of the genepool of the winter wheat from the world’s largest wheat collection of N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry (VIR) to investigate its resistance to the abiotic stress factors of the Moscow region and see how closely it matches the requirements of the so-called ideal cultivar as it was described by N.I. Vavilov in 1935. The critical years to study the wheat’s winter resistance were 10 years out of 50; excessive water saturation – the year 2013; soil drought – 1988; atmospheric drought – 1972 and 2010. During the investigation, the following gene pool features were analyzed: frost, rapid temperature change, thawing, ice and rotting resistances; regeneration capacity in spring after a bad wintering; resistance to excessive soil and air saturation; solid standing culm that is resistant to wind and rainfall; seeds that do not germinate in standing corn and wind raw; resistance to soil and atmospheric drought and plant diseases. The performed study has resulted in providing the starting material to be resistant to abiotic stress factors of the Moscow region that can be used for further selection. Despite all the difficulties encountered in the attempts to bring all the best qualities of winter wheat to one cultivar, Russian plant breeders have been able to create outstanding plant species being very close to the ideal one described by N.I. Vavilov.