A winter rye variety ‘Arga’

There has been given characteristics of the new winter rye variety ‘Arga’ in comparison with the standard varieties ‘Yeniseyka’ and ‘Krasnoyarskaya universalnaya’ during the study in trials of 2017–2024 at the “Minino” of the Krasnoyarsk RIA, a separate structural unit of the FRC KSC CB RAS, within the framework of the state assignment. The winter rye variety ‘Arga’ was developed due to the variety ‘Yeniseyka 3’ being a donor of low watersoluble pentosans and short stem and the variety ‘Irtyshskaya’. During the development, there was used the method of intra-population cumulative crossings with paired crossings, selection and cross-pollination of the best pairs and the method of clonal halves for identification and selection of the best clones with their subsequent unification into a complex population, intra-population selection for winter tolerance and productivity. The variety was sent to the State variety testing in 2019, and in 2023 it was included in the State List for the East Siberian (11) region and recommended for cultivation in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Irkutsk region. There has been established in the competitive variety testing that the winter rye variety ‘Arga’ has a number of advantages in comparison with the standard varieties ‘Yeniseyka’ and ‘Krasnoyarskaya universalnaya’. The new variety was not inferior to the standards in winter tolerance and surpassed them in lodging resistance. In terms of mean productivity (4.5 t/ha), the variety ‘Arga’ exceeded the standard varieties ‘Yeniseyka’ and ‘Krasnoyarskaya universalnaya’ by 0.41 and 0.13 t/ha, respectively. The superior productivity was due to the larger grain number per ear and 1000-grain weight. The maximum recorded productivity of 1000 grains in the Krasnoyarsk Territory was 7.22 t/ha.