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Eleven spring wheat cultivars were compared in terms of the stability of their grain yield and grain quality. The cultivars' stability was evaluated separately at two different crop management levels-moderate-input management and high-input management. Three stability models were used for the two crop management levels based on a linear mixed model framework with restricted maximum likelihood. The Shukla model was the most appropriate for the evaluation of stability of tested spring wheat cultivars. The thousand-grain weight, starch content, Zeleny sedimentation value and test weight were characterized, and the stability ranking cultivars at moderate-input management level was mostly consistent with the rank of cultivars 24 for high-input management level. For grain yield, grain protein content and wet gluten content, the stability rankings were not consistent. Cultivars 'Monsun' and 'Parabola' are the most stable cultivars for grain yield in moderate-input management and high-input management, respectively. Cultivar 'Hewilla' was the stable cultivar for all quality traits at moderate-input management. Cultivar 'Arabella' was the most stable cultivar at high-input management level.

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The objectives of this study were to determine how modern cultivars of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L. var. vulgare) and different soil conditions at locations in Poland affected grain yield (GY) of 15 cultivars and multiplicative yield components. The different ways in which the components contributed to GY variation created by environmental conditions—location, growing season, and crop management—across environments of favorable and unfavorable soil suitability for wheat cultivation were also determined. To assess the relationship between GY and its components for cultivars grown under two levels of soil suitability, path coefficient analysis was used. Cluster analysis of three GY components—the number of spikes per square meter (SN), the number of grains per spike (NG/S), and the thousand‐grain weight (TGW)—derived from different cultivar × soil suitability combinations was performed to identify groups of these combinations and to assess the ways in which yield components vary in their contribution to GY in the varied environments. Grain yield and its three components were significantly affected by main and interaction effects of the cultivar and the level of soil suitability. Grain yield in favorable and unfavorable soil suitability conditions was, respectively, 6.58–5.44 Mg ha−1. This decrease was due to a reduction in SN by 6.1% and in TGW by 11.8%, but NG/S was similar in both soil groups. Grain yield variability in response to the different environmental conditions was determined by similar contributions of the three yield components, almost independently of the cultivar, but in the favorable suitability, SN had a stronger impact on GY, whereas in unfavorable soil suitability for wheat cultivation, the importance of NG/S increased.

Two groups of soil texture classification, differing in limit diameters for particular soil fractions, are used in Poland. The older groups of classifications consider soil particles as < 1 mm and divide them into sand (1.0–0.1 mm), silt (0.1–0.02 mm) and fine or flowable particles (< 0.02 mm). These classifications are used, in a version which originated in 1956 and here denominated as PTG/Musierowicz 1956 in land quality assessment and elaboration of soil agricultural maps. Newer versions of these classifications – professional standard BN-78/9180-11 (1978) and division of soils in agronomic categories described in 1986 – are used in fertilizer recommendations and in agricultural drought monitoring. According to the new soil texture classification PTG 2008, the upper diameter limit for soil particles is 2 mm and these parts are divided into sand (2.0–0.05 mm), silt (0.05–0.002 mm) and clay (<0.002 mm). This classification is compatible with soil texture classification elaborated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and most frequently applied worldwide. In this paper, the results of analyses of 1087 soil samples representing almost all granulometric groups existing in older and newer Polish soil texture classifications were considered. On the base of the current and earlier studies, the table with probability of occurrence of granulometric group PTG 2008 or texture class USDA for particular granulometric groups BN-78/9180-11 was prepared. For majority of granulometric groups (pl, ps, psp, pgl, pgmp, gp, gpp, gl, glp, gc, gcp, ip, płi) determined on the base of BN-78/9180-11, it is possible to determine their granulometric group/texture class according to PTG 2008/USDA correctly and, frequently, unambiguously. For granulometric groups pglp, pgm, gs, gsp i and płg it is possible to propose with great probability more than one equivalent according to PTG 2008/USDA, and in other cases more studies are recommended.

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