Don wheat: productivity and grain quality, competitiveness and varietal diversit
Don wheat: productivity and grain quality, competitiveness and varietal diversity In the structure of grain crops, winter wheat occupies 74% of the area, and yields about 80% of gross amount. Therefore, wheat grain on the Don area, its productivity and quality is the most important source of income of its producers. The main sowing areas in the south of Russia are occupied by new varieties of such three research institutes as ARC ‘Donskoy', ‘RCG named after P.P. Lukyanenko' and DGRIA with the leading varieties ‘Ermak', ‘Grom', ‘Gubernator Dona'. Many modern winter wheat varieties are sown in the inter-station variety testing in the department for winter wheat selection and seed-growing of the ARC ‘Donskoy', which makes it possible to compare them both in grain quality and productivity and to reveal their differences and features. The analysis of the allelic composition of prolamins showed that among the Krasnodar varieties there are a lot of alleles (78%) that negatively affect on the quality of flour (Gli 1B3, 1B2) and there are very few alleles with high frost resistance (Gli 1D4, 1D7 - 30%). At the same time, the varieties of Don selection have a visa versa effect. These alleles give an advantage in frost resistance, but lead to productivity decrease.