Environmental Stability and Plasticity of Feeding Sorghum in the Republics of Bashkortostan
In 2015-2018 we evaluated the adaptive characteristics and productivity of feeding sorghum varieties of Russian breeding under the conditions of the Cis-Ural steppe in the Republic of Bashkortostan. In 2015 the index of environmental conditions for the output of dry matter for Sudan grass was 15.36; in 2016 it was -1.35; in 2017 it was -7.09; in 2018 it was -6.92. For sugar sorghum, it was 12.25, -16.77, 2.07, and 2.45, respectively. This characterizes the meteorological conditions of the years of the research and their influence on the growth and development of plants. The soil was light loamy typical calcareous chernozem of medium thickness. The seeds were sown on 25-28 May at the rate of 400 thousand viable seeds/ha; the row-spacing amounted to 45 cm. The material for the study was 9 varieties of Sudan grass and 10 varieties of sugar sorghum. The plots were distributed systematically. The experiment was repeated four times. Chishminskaya Rannyaya, Yubileynaya 20, Zonalskaya 6, and Aleksandrina varieties of Sudan grass, Saratovskoe 90 and Kalibr varieties of sugar sorghum turned to be plastic. The coefficient bi was close to 1. Yaktash and Smena varieties of Sudan grass, Krepysh, Volzhskoe 51, and Moment varieties of sugar sorghums were responsive to improving cultivation conditions. The coefficient bi was more than 1. Based on the comprehensive evaluation of the average yield, its range, stress tolerance and environmental plasticity, such varieties of Sudan grass as Anastasia (9.44 t/ha) and Ayusha (8.62 t/ha) and of sugar sorghum as Volzhskoye 51 (12.08 t/ha), Krepysh (12.65 t/ha), Flagman (11.50 t/ha), and Kalibr (11.89 t/ha) were the best in the dry matter yield.