Estimation of productivity indicators of new winter wheat varieties in the steppe Crimea

The main sown areas in the Republic of Crimea are occupied by winter grain crops. The study conducted by Crimean scientists over many years and confirmed in production has shown that productivity of winter grain crops is unstable and varies significantly in years with different weather conditions. The difference in productivity is also found to depend on a variety. The purpose of the current study was to estimate the main elements of productivity and yield of new winter common wheat varieties developed by the FSBSI “ARC “Donskoy” in the contrasting weather conditions of the steppe Crimea. The current paper has summed up the results of the long-term study of winter common wheat cultivation and identified the varieties most adapted to dry conditions. The trials were carried out on the fields of the FSBSI “Research Institute of Agriculture in Crimea” after black fallow in the years of different weather conditions (2018–2023). The objects of research were 12 winter common wheat varieties from the Agricultural Research Center “Donskoy”, the standard variety being ‘Ermak’. The registration area of the experimental plots was 25 m 2 . The placement of plots was systematic and repeated four times. The wheat sowing rate was 5 million pcs. of germin. grains per hectare. The trials and statistical processing were performed according to the methods of B. A. Dospekhov and the State Variety Testing. The study of winter wheat varieties bred by the ARC “Donskoy” has shown their different responses to the contrasting weather conditions of Crimea from the early periods of plant growth and development up to the formation of basic productivity indicators. Under unfavorable conditions of 2020, the mean productivity of varieties was 3.90 t/ha; in 2019, 2022 and 2023 it exceeded 5.0 t/ha. The study has made it possible to identify varieties with maximum productivity, such as ‘Donskaya Step’ (5.38 t/ha) and ‘Razdolie’ (5.33 t/ha). The main component of the productivity of the variety ‘Donskaya Step’ was grain weight per ear, and that of variety ‘Razdolie’ was a productive stem.