Source Material for Winter Soft Wheat Breeding for Productivity and Dwarfness in the Forest-Steppe Conditions of the Middle Volga Region

The aim of the present study was to select the source material of winter soft wheat for breeding for high productivity, dwarfness, and their combination in the forest-steppe conditions of the Middle Volga region. The work was carried out in 2011–2013 in Ulyanovsk oblast. The soil of the experimental field was leached black earth, and the predecessor was pure fallow. The material for the study was 102 varieties of winter wheat of different geographical origin. Weather conditions during the experiment were contrasting. The environmental stress factors typical of the forest-steppe of the Middle Volga prevented the majority of winter wheat varieties of the world collection from developing their productivity potential to the full extent. Accessions from Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia, Moldova, China, the United States, Japan, Estonia, and Latvia formed yields lower than the standard variety Volzhskaya K (630, 367, and 162 g/m2 in 2011, 2012, and 2013, respectively) by 10–93%. Due to frequently occurring drought conditions, significant positive correlation–regression dependences of winter soft wheat yield on plant height (R2 > 0.08) were found. High productivity sources Poema and Biiskaya winter wheat varieties, which annually outperformed the standard by 16–205%, were chosen and recommended as source material for winter wheat breeding. Dwarf and semidwarf wheat varieties Donskaya Lira, Zamozhnist, and Yasnogorka, which formed yields at the same level or higher than the standard variety Volzhskaya K (499 g/m2 on average in 2011–2012 and 264 g/m2 on average in 2012–2013), have high breeding value as the sources of combined dwarfness and high productivity.